Samuel was looking at the arch with the expression she recognized — the flood-report expression, the mechanism expression, the quality of attention he gave to things that had connected to something in his internal structure.
"What was the earlier structure?" Samuel asked.
"Nobody is entirely certain," Jesper said, with the slightly pleased expression of a man delivering interesting uncertainty. "The architectural records from that period are incomplete. But the arch type is characteristic of a construction style associated with the pre-dynasty settlement. Which would make it—" He did a mental calculation. "Possibly four hundred years older than the rest of this corridor."
Samuel looked at the arch. "So every time someone walks through this corridor they walk under something four hundred years older than they think they're walking under."
Jesper looked at him. "I had not thought of it in quite that way," he said. "But yes."
