The moment they entered the top-floor room, Quenivarius's awkwardness narrowed into focus so intense that everything else seemed to fall away. He did not rush forward the way Dylan had. He stopped just inside the doorway, taking in the whole chamber before approaching a single part of it. His eyes moved from the carved district map to the dormant stones, then to the wall channels, the indicator panels, the levers, the cracked crystals, and the floor grooves leading into the table. He crouched near one line, followed its direction with his gaze, then stood and walked around the central map with careful steps, never crossing over a channel without checking where his boots landed.
Dylan leaned toward Sheila with a whisper loud enough to be rude. "See? Nerd pilgrimage."
Quenivarius did not react. For the first time since meeting him, Dylan had become irrelevant.
That alone proved the room had claimed him.
