The testing ground lay beyond the settlement, a shallow bowl of cleared earth ringed by standing-stone remnants like the ones at Verrin's Landing. They looked older than Ossara, older than the paths cut around them, perhaps older than the settlement itself.
Calder explained the task through Isole's halting translation while several assessors watched from the rim. They carried no visible tablets or ledgers, yet each seemed to be recording something.
"Six markers," Isole said. "One for each of us. Reach the centre, retrieve the stone, and bring it back across the bowl."
"That's all?" Valerica asked.
Isole listened as Calder added a short sentence.
"He says the ground will tell them the rest."
"That isn't a full explanation."
"It's the only one he intends to give." Isole studied Calder's expression. "I think the questions we ask after hearing the instruction are already part of the measure."
Mara examined the bowl before anyone stepped into it.
