Rowan continued staring at the map.
Then suddenly rolled it up.
Just like that.
The serious atmosphere vanished.
"Gonna be honest."
He shoved the map beneath one arm.
"I have absolutely no idea why she wanted us to meet."
Sakura blinked.
"You don't know?"
"Nope."
"You didn't ask?"
"I did."
"And?"
Rowan sighed dramatically.
"'You'll understand when you meet her.'"
Sakura immediately understood.
The Archivist was responsible.
Somehow.
Even when she wasn't present.
"She says things like that a lot?"
"Constantly."
"That's horrible."
"THANK YOU."
At last.
Something they could agree on.
The two walked through the archive halls together.
Scholars passed by.
Messengers hurried between rooms.
Life continued around them.
Eventually they reached a balcony overlooking the eastern side of Aurelis.
Ships crossed the strait below.
Bridges connected the two shores.
The city stretched endlessly toward the horizon.
Rowan leaned against the railing.
"So."
"So?"
"What was your life before this?"
Sakura froze.
The question caught her off guard.
Rowan immediately raised both hands.
"Oh."
His eyes widened.
"Oh, that's why she introduced us."
"What?"
The cartographer stared at her.
Then laughed.
A single disbelieving laugh.
"You're from beyond."
The words came quietly.
Not fearful.
Not shocked.
Simply surprised.
Sakura's heart skipped.
"How do you know that?"
"Because I'm not from Asterra either."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
"What?"
Rowan looked toward the city.
For the first time since meeting him, he seemed older.
Not physically.
Just... tired.
"My name wasn't always Rowan."
---
"You know?I have a brother named Rowan back in the capital."
"DIDN'T ASK."
"Rude."
"SO WHAT."
"Rude."
"YOU LOOK WEIRDER THAN YESTERDAY."
"Extremely rude."
"Why do I feel like I had heard this conversation before?"
Haruto asked.
Belial interjected.
"THIS IS CALLED REVENGE."
Haruto continued mopping the floor.
---
Sakura stared at the endless panorama of the straits.
The world seemed to stop moving.
Ships continued below.
People continued walking.
Yet everything felt distant.
Because for the first time since arriving in this world—
she wasn't speaking to someone who studied people from another world.
She was speaking to one.
Rowan reached into his satchel.
Then removed a folded piece of paper.
Old.
Carefully preserved.
Frequently opened.
He handed it to her.
Sakura unfolded it.
And froze.
It was a sketch.
A rough drawing made with charcoal.
Nothing extraordinary.
Just a man sitting beneath a tree.
A sketchbook resting on his lap.
Drawing.
The face wasn't detailed enough to identify.
Yet Sakura's heart pounded anyway.
Because she recognized the habit immediately.
The posture.
The way the figure held the pencil.
The way the sketchbook rested against one knee.
She had seen that pose hundreds of times.
Maybe thousands.
Her hands trembled slightly.
"Where did you get this?"
Rowan's expression became serious.
"That's exactly why the Archivist wanted me to meet you."
Sakura slowly looked up.
The cartographer pointed toward the drawing.
"I found that three years ago."
A pause.
Then the words that changed everything.
"I found it in the Northern Expanse."
The desert.
Haruto's desert.
And suddenly, for the first time in years—
Sakura had something she had never possessed before.
Not hope.
Not faith.
Not a dream.
Finally..
A lead she had been looking for.