The frost giant moved to stand behind Noah, putting itself between him and the gate.
He looked at the female standing in the gap between the barricades.
"You are small," she said.
"Relative term," Noah said.
Her eyes moved across him, slow, reading something she hadn't decided how to categorize yet. Behind her, the other giants had gone still, watching, waiting on whatever she decided.
"You are not what came before," she said.
"What came before," Noah said.
She didn't answer immediately. She studied him a while longer, the pale blue of her eyes catching the cold light from the ceiling formations far above, and when she finally spoke it was carefully, like someone choosing how much of a long story to give a stranger.
"I am Yrsala," she said. "Daughter of the line that has held this place." She paused. "I have not decided your purpose. I have decided you are not the dark ones."
"What dark ones," Noah said.
