“The whole thing was engineered to have you named as nuncio to the Combine. That’s the vision Lens saw.”
“Really?” She sounds very surprised. “Dammit, that’s exactly the kind of thing Ash would do. But I thought that Lens saw…wait, were you in Lens’ branch?”
“No, Ailann’s.”
“Ailann’s? That’s not right. Ailann emanated before we went back to Nightside. I doubt that was what Valentin was trying to hide.”
“What’s Nightside?”
“Oh, you don’t know that? It’s the name I gave to the outpost in the Tucana Dwarf. It was a tribute to my mother, the ‘Terror of Nightside-Elsinore.’ Do you understand the nature of Lens’ sight?”
“No. I have no direct experience of Lens.”
“It’s quite remarkable. I tried on his spectacles once. It reminded me of taking Gyre.”
“The blue amrita,” I murmur. “The apples.”
“It isn’t a single vision, though. It’s just the way Lens sees. Look, based on what you said, I’m still not willing to write off Lorcan as the source of the problem, even though the last time I spoke to him, he assured me he was fine. Lorcan hides his feelings.” She hands me her datapad. “Here. This is what I wrote the night I came to Nightside, the night after Beat was killed and Lorcan emanated.”