"I think there was something here, once," Re-l said. She tossed her apple core far away into the sand and bit down on an oatcake. "This is all one giant ruin, we just can't see it."

The emptiness stretched out around them, hummming with pure silence. It made Re-l feel small, shrunk down to nothing in the vast and open space.

"I wasn't thinking about coming back," she said. "The Cave is full of mysteries, no doubt about that, but I don't think they're the ones I need to solve." She closed her eyes and turned her face to the sun. "No, I was thinking that if we knew the layout of the land, it might make the shape of things more obvious. But probably that would require an aerial survey, and somehow I don't see them letting us do that."

Mentally she added acquire an airship to her to do list.