no answer. Holding the boot’s high leg in her right hand, she made long sweeps with her left, wiping the substance from heel to knee.

“There was some kind of machine down there,” she said at last.

“The Power Generator,” he replied.

“It was affecting the energy,” she continued.

“The energy?” he asked. “So that’s why you attacked us. You need the Aether for your magic, and you thought we were harming it?”

The boot in her lap had changed colour from faded brown to glistening hazelnut. She set it aside without meeting his gaze, and took up the other.

“You’re wrong,” he said. “The power that we harnessed was a by-product. Radiant energy, we called it. Nothing that we did could have affected the Aether.&r...

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