"What is this doing here?"
"That's... Isn't that one of those Awoken statues?"
"Well... yes... or at least it's mimicking that form."
"Mimicking?"
"It's the same pose and style and all, but look at the materials, the detail. It's nowhere near as fine as the examples attested from the Reef."
"Maybe that just means it wasn't made in the Dreaming City. The ground ain't made of crystals everywhere, right?"
"Fair point. Could it be... Do you think one of the early Awoken who came to Earth made it?"
"What do you mean 'early'?"
"You know the Earthborn are all descended from Awoken who left the Reef during the Dark Age, right?"
"Right."
"Well, could be one of those Reefborn who first came to Earth made this out of local materials. We'd have to do dating and other analysis to confirm that, but..."
"You don't think one of the Warlocks who built this floating nonsense just stuck that in here for a laugh?"
"Also possible, I suppose. But we're not going to know till we call the Cryptarchy, get an archaeological team in here to survey the site and all that."
"And you think they're gonna send in a team like that on the off chance this dingus might be interesting?"
"They will if I ask nicely."
"Oh yeah?"
"Let's just say Master Rahool owes me a favor."
(EAZ)









