Both Ilapara and Tuk lean forward to take a closer look. Salo once wore an amulet that pretended to be an expensive ruby. This stone is somewhat larger, though not of a material she recognizes. Something about it sends a shiver down her spine. “What are we looking at?” she says. “An artifact of Engai’s grace,” Amidi explains. “On the morning of the king’s wedding—may her soul find peace on the Infinite Path—we performed a ritual to catch a soul as it departed its vessel. This specific soul. Your friend’s soul. Everything he ever was, his essence. It is all contained within this rock, by the
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