NEVA POV
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Corva found me at the east wall bench two days after we returned from meeting Elias, her expression carrying the specific quality of someone who had been thinking hard about something and had finally arrived at the shape of it.
"I have an idea," she said. "About the object. The one that ties the bond to the territory."
I looked at her.
"Tell me," I said.
"Elara's ring," Corva said. "You've worn it since the testimony. I gave it to you to carry, but I think—" She paused, choosing her words carefully. "I think it belongs in the ceremony itself. Not as a replacement for whatever ring you and Ryke choose for each other, but as a bridge. The first Stabilizer's territory, connected physically to the fourth's, through an object that survived sixty years to make the journey."
I
