Ishril 25, 4633 AIA

Into this dramatic pause, the Head Curator treads. I jump, even Naraik is startled. Ishkrit is all pomp and circumstance, jacket buttoned to the throat and sashes in place. This is too much for xem—and xir usually better dressed than me.

"What are you doing in here? Where's the Guardian Anarya?" Ishkrit's gaze flickers between us, to the folder open on the chest of drawers. "What's this?"

Naraik recovers first. "The Guardian's upstairs. Tabishka was explaining about the moth." I sense the prickle in Naraik's kata, sending me subtle energy to support what xe knows will be a tough conversation.

"I was told the Guardian wanted to see us. You should've let me know." Ishkrit bustles between the chests, peering at the scraps of papyrus laid out before us. "What's this—Oh, not that again, Tabishka."

My cheeks burn. "It's a theory. Whoever goes out to investigate this ought to be aware this might be what they're looking for." This is further than I meant to go. I realise there's not much to this theory. If I'm pretty much the only person in the whole Alliance who believes in the Moth, how would anybody anywhere else be aware of it?

I can see the same thought has occurred to Ishkrit. "You're giving the thieves far too much credit. They'll be after gold, jewellery, anything they can sell. I'm amazed this hasn't happened before."

"It apparently has," I say, tapping my finger on the folder. Naraik's subtle kata transition has given me energy. I'm not giving up this fight so easily. "The Guardian says there've been a series of thefts from the dig sites."

Ishkrit rolls xir eyes, having none of it. "All the same thing. That's why we haven't heard about it. That whole region has been struggling for a while and this is what people do when they struggle."

"I think we ought to sit down and talk this through." Naraik props me up, another fizz of kata from xir hands into my body. Not enough to overwhelm me, but to keep any spreading pain at bay. Naraik can read me well enough and xe knows this kind of argument is going to exhaust me.

Ishkrit knows better than to argue when a Watcher makes a point, and holds up xir hands. "Let's take this back to the office."

I pick up the folder to bring it along and Ishkrit frowns. Now I'm on the case, I'm not going to let this drop. Naraik doesn't let any of this resume until xe has me settled back at my desk, checked that the pain isn't any worse, and then puts on a performance of making us all fresh coffee and tea so I have the chance to gather my thoughts.

"I get it. This is important to you." Ishkrit's trying a different tack. "But how would anybody out in the Maïti northeast know about some mysterious haunted amulet that probably doesn't exist?"

I straighten up, ready to fight my corner. "D'you know how I made this discovery? I was looking at legends from that area when I was doing my research. The idea of the Bone Moth came from old legends from that area. Old Maïti stories—the monster who came from the south and hid out in their caves. They made an amulet in the shape of a moth to hide their soul from invaders. It's all part of the Maïti legends of the end of the old world."

"Just because it's a legend, doesn't mean it's real." Ishkrit sits back at xir desk and emits a long sigh.

I shift in my seat, a defensive prickle at the back of my neck. "I know that." Intellectually, of course I do. "But legends and myths come from truth, somewhere along the line. Look at us. Isha's real. Isha's history is real. We have our legends and stories about all that, and we argue in our journals about what's provable and what's not. But if this story or that story turns out not to be true, doesn't mean the whole thing is hogwash."

"Well, no, but..." Ishkrit stops, and sighs. "So you want me to go out and find this thing so you can prove your theory."

"No, I want me to go find this thing so I can prove this theory." That's it. That's the declaration.

Ishkrit and Naraik both stare at me in wonder. Then Naraik beams, puts down xir tea. "Great. I'll get right on it."

And that's when, with exquisite timing, the Guardian of External Affairs' Senior Servant steps into the office and takes in the scene.

"So which one of you is SDAC Tabishka? The one with the Bone Moth theory?"

However long it's been since our meeting this morning is apparently enough time for a Guardian and xir Ishcai-Nashim to find and read through an obscure academic journal article.

Shinika is, like all Ishca-Nashim Warrior Class, exceptionally tall, exceptionally well-built, and has the air of somebody you'd never dare start a fight with. Ishkrit checks xirself, hovers on the edge of the conversation.

We relocate to one of the museum's specialist spaces, with a set-up for examining these ancient papyri in closer detail. A specially-configured slate on a tripod is positioned over a flat white board. Naraik, who's learnt from me how to handle a papyrus and from Ajaë how to work this device xe made for me, dons gloves and places these fragments onto the board and adjusts the slate to increase the magnification.

"What am I looking at?" Most of Shinika's face is tattooed, those parts not affected by bony extrusions—the Gap's unstable kata affects us all in different ways, and in Shinika, it has twisted xir skeleton into compelling twisted shapes. It's most prominent on xir cheekbones and eyebrows, giving xir a sharp, eagle-ish appearance. It magnifies the frown as xe studies the image of the papyrus on the slate.

I tap the slate, still leaning on Naraik for support. To the side of the enlarged image, a set of metrics appear. "This is dated to the Late Rending Period." Reciting facts I've memorised over years gives me strength, and I straighten. "It's a section of a codex. We've got a few sheets surviving in the records. Can you see that squared-off handwriting? That's believed to be Tallat's handwriting."

Shinika's bright, black eyes meet mine for a compelling second. There's something about the Ishcai-Nashim. The corner of xir mouth twitches.

"Tallat. Emperor Mukhadori's pet scientist?" Shinika obviously knows xir history. Xe pauses, then grins almost drunkenly. "You're kidding me. We've got the notebooks from this woman who destroyed the world. How come this isn't everywhere? It's not on display upstairs."

"That's because it's only a theory." Ishkrit scythes into the discussion with a glare. "And only a possible theory at that. Nobody else supports or has supported this conjecture."

Shinika ignores xem. "So this is what you think the thieves were after. That's why they've been targeting the digs." Xe steps back and folds xir arms. "Locaru sent me down the reports from the Nas Ashca. They're saying they think it's locals. Maïti. What would they want with something like this?"

"I don't know." That's where I'm stumped. The Maïti are nomadic, herders used to a rough, snow-bound life above the permafrost. Couldn't be more different to my own life down here. I can't imagine them as being less interested in some monster's artefact. Tallat doesn't come across well in the Maïti legends.

"This is my whole point," Ishkrit interjects. Xe sees an opening and plunges in. "Look, Shinika, with all due respect, nothing has ever really backed Tabishka's notion or this would be upstairs, on display, and we'd all be talking about it."

"So what's the problem? Why aren't we talking about it?" Shinika asks. And they say Warriors aren't smart.

Ishkrit gesticulates. "We have no evidence that anybody could do what this notebook suggests Tallat did. We don't even do that now, but back then? Tallat destroyed the world, but she didn't intend to. That at least we know. There's no way she had the capability to do something as subtle as Tabishka thinks she did."

"Which was what, exactly? What does this Bone Moth do?"

"Everything Tallat was able to do." I jump in as Ishkrit draws breath. "It's a key with all Tallat's knowledge, the ability to work with any of the other machines she made."

Shinika's narrow eyes grow large. "That's... a lot."

"Yes." I tap the slate, enlarge a portion of crabbed text. A drawing beside it, scratched with iron-based ink on the yellow papyrus, shows a skeletal shape with wings splayed: the moth itself. "This is where she describes it. She used her own bone to make it, which is how she was able to—"

"Her own bone? How?"

"Like your, um." I wave a hand toward Shinika's own face. "She must've used kata to draw out her own bone. Extend it, fuse it into the moth shape, so it looked like an amulet she wore."

Shinika glances at Naraik, who's been silently propping me up all this time, and then Ishkrit. I'm losing xem. I need Shinika to get it, or xe'll go back to the Guardian Anarya and tell xem I've lost my mind.

"How?" Shinika turns to Naraik. "Could they do that with bone back then?"

On the spot, Naraik stiffens. Xe pauses before xe speaks, and Ishkrit is ready to fill the gap.

"No, they—"

"No evidence either way," Naraik interrupts and has Shinika's full attention. "Just because we don't know that they could doesn't mean that they couldn't. Tallat did a lot of things."

"Tallat was crazy and not nearly as capable as everybody thinks." Ishkrit huffs. "Why are we doing this? I'm sorry, Shinika, but we've no evidence for any of this." Xe taps the slate and the image blanks. "How did Maïti hear about our shipments? Why would they want to steal this?"

"What if it's not the Maïti?" My heart thuds hard. "What if it's somebody else?"

"Like who, Tabishka?" Ishkrit glares.

I tap the slate, and it lights up, now showing an enlarged map with the provenance for the scrap of notebook we're arguing over. "The Maïti aren't the only people who live out there. Look. We've got plenty of different places around here, and some of them consider themselves descendents of the Basati. Or the Basati's enslaved peoples, at least." I can tell I'm losing Ishkrit, but it's not like I had xir on my side in the first place. It's Shinika I want to convince.

The Servant tilts xir head to one side. Here we are, Ishkrit and me, two experts hanging on the opinion of a Warrior Class, who until this morning probably hadn't looked at an original Rending document since xir Dura. In Shinika's case, that was probably a couple of hundred years ago. Ishcai-Nashim are long-lived.

"All right," xe says at last. "It's worth a shot." Ishkrit starts to speak but Shinika holds up a hand. "Until this morning, this was just an idea. If it turns out to be gold thieves looking for a quick take, I'm glad we're aware of this now. I'll tell the Guardian." Shinika beams at me. "Looks like you might get a chance to prove your theory after all. Now, what do we need to get you over there?"

I take a step back so I'm pressed into Naraik's firm torso. "But I can't... I'll give you all the information you'll need, obviously, but it's not... I can't... It's too..."

"We can figure something out." Shinika nods to Naraik, then me, and that's it. I'm going to find the Bone Moth.