The qualification closed, and the Mountain went quiet.
Across the dome, in a tower suite high above the city, a young woman watched the final standings settle on a screen of pale light and did not move for a long moment.
She was poised, elegant, the kind of beauty that came with generations of careful breeding behind it, dark hair swept back from a face that gave away nothing. Melody Sinclair, of the Sinclair family, ninth in all the Riglight Galactic Alliance, and a Soul Tree expert of no small repute. She had spent the entire qualification keeping a low profile, revealing only what she needed to, drawing no more eyes than necessary. It was how the Sinclairs had always operated. Power was loudest when it was quiet.
But something on that Mountain had caught her attention, and held it.
