"Guardian. I have your instructions. I suspect you'll have had your fill of Queensfoil before you're through."

Mara looks thoughtful.

"I mourned the fate of the Dreaming City once before. But if its ultimate desolation is to be the cost of securing freedom for those within its walls, I would pay gladly.

"We may never see the likes of it again. At least, not constructed through the same means. And, I hope, not subject to the same follies.

"We live such long lives. Even the greatest wonders can become commonplace. Yet others are fleeting, there and gone—known to us only because we happened to be looking at the right moment."

"Keep your eyes open, Guardian."