Farli obediently moderated her efforts, using a slow claw-over-claw technique, until she stopped, chittering with success, when her talons exposed a dull black surface.
“Careful…”Jancis used her hands to comb the remaining ash aside, revealing a hand-wide square. Farli patted it, her claw tips clicking. “I don’t know what this is. It’s not their usual material. It’s more like dense opaque glass.” She rapped on it experimentally. “Doesn’t sound like glass.”
“Let’s get the whole piece uncovered,” Jaxom suggested.
But revealing a complete panel made them no wiser. So they excavated the other five panels on the south-facing roof and then, with Ruth’s assistance, the entire roof, which proved to be clad in hand-square sections. Once a piece broke loose, slithering to the ground, but fortunately it was not damaged by the fall.
“Look, these tiles cover the original roofing material. Mortared on.” With a sharp cutting tool, Jancis scratched at the surface of a tile. “It could be ceramic, but it’s the hardest I’ve ever seen. However did they get such strength to ceramics?” she wondered aloud.
“Could these possibly be ceramic, too?” Jaxom asked, tapping one of the long panels.
Piemur was lying prone, poking his finger around one panel. “It’s always a possibility. You know, these are attached somehow to, and maybe even penetrate, the original roof. All the tiles were carefully shaped to fit snugly around the panels and on the roof. Very curious. Why wouldn’t the panels be covered against the heat, too? I don’t understand this. D’you think your grandfather should have a look at this?”
“Master Esselin should see it first,” she said, none too happily. “He’s in charge here.”
“Of excavating,” Jaxom said, motioning Ruth to him. “But Fandarel checks new materials.” He grinned as he slipped onto Ruth’s back. “He’ll be at these caves I came to see?”
“Have a look in passing,” Piemur yelled as Ruth launched himself upward.
“You and Lord Jaxom seem to be old friends,” Jancis remarked casually as she reached for her notepad and the transparent measuring stick. She saw his look and flushed. “Well, we did find several boxes of them, you know.”
“Tools are meant to be used,” he replied magnanimously. “There are things to be kept for what they are, and things that should be used because they’re more efficient than anything we have.” He grinned at her discomfort, and she got busy with her measurements.
In a very few minutes, Ruth returned with Jaxom and the Mastersmith, Fandarel’s massive bulk dwarfing even the tall Ruathan and certainly looking conspicuous on the small white dragon. For a man of his size, however, Fandarel was agile and active, lying flat by one of the solar panels to examine it thoroughly, running his fingers over the puzzling new surface.
“This tiling is familiar,” he said, grimacing at another loose piece and rubbing his thumb over it. “It was not meant to lie flat, either. See, there is a slight rounding to it. It might have been bedded in this mortar…” He pinched some of the dusty stuff visible where the section had lain. “But this was not its original purpose.”
Jaxom let out a sudden whoop. “It’s like the coating on the flying ships in the meadow!”
“Why would they coat a building with—” Piemur began.
“Heat tolerance. There’d be heat, or friction—” Jancis said at the same time.
They both broke off, startled by the sight of the smith precariously tilted groundward to examine the exposed corner of the roof and wall. He grunted, waving one hand urgently at the three young people. Jancis held out the trowel; he grabbed it and began chipping away the dirt around the corner, murmuring to himself. He sounded both puzzled and pleased.
“Jaxom, would Ruth be kind enough to dig out this corner section for me?” That was soon enough accomplished, though Ruth did knock off a few more of the tiles, apologizing through Jaxom for it.
“Tell him not to worry,” the Mastersmith replied. “The mortar that held them in place has accomplished its purpose. Your theory is supported, Jancis. These tiles were added to protect what’s in this curious building against the heat of lava. Now what does it contain?”
“An aivas,” Jancis said, clearing her throat conspicuously and passing the drawing to her grandfather. Piemur noticed how subdued she had become, turning into a very proper and self-effacing young lady.
“And what, Master Fandarel, is an ‘aivas’?” Jaxom asked patiently.
“I don’t know, Jaxom,” the smith replied. “Let us all find out.”
“Jancis had the hunch,” Piemur said, wanting her to assert herself.
“Good girl. Always uses her eyes and her wits,” the smith said, surprised at Piemur’s fervent agreement. Then Fandarel dropped off the roof and went to round up a full team of excavators, unceremoniously excusing them from their other projects. He rudely ignored Master Esselin and Breide when they demanded explanations, telling them absently to go do something they were qualified to do. By evening the annex was completely unearthed to reveal that, unlike all other ancient buildings, it had neither windows nor door, and that the original walls were of a double thickness. Ventilation slats were finally discovered under the eaves, but they allowed no glimpse of the interior. At sunset, the smith called a halt, giving orders that the project was now the highest priority and that Master Esselin should see that there was a full complement of workers to secure access to the ADMIN building and the mysterious aivas as soon after daylight as possible.
“Look, I’ve got to get back to Ruatha,” Jaxom said as the smith concluded his instructions. “Sharra’s going to be disgusted with not being able to travel right now. She’s pregnant again, you see.” His grin was both embarrassed and proud.
For the first time, Piemur discovered that he felt no pain at Jaxom and Sharra’s happiness. “Nuisance, that,” he said, grinning back. “Listen, would Ruth mind dropping Jancis and me off at Cove Hold? Master Robinton will want a full report on this.”
Ruth did not mind at all.
“Another marvel?” Master Robinton asked. His workspace was littered with examples of the cavern artifacts. “It’s going to take us till the end of the Pass to document what we’ve already got.” Almost irritably, he shoved at the mess around him. “Things! The ancients had so many things!”
Piemur chuckled as he automatically refilled the Master’s empty wineglass.
“A building is not a thing, Master Robinton. D’ram, have you or Lord Lytol come across any reference to the ‘aivas’?” he asked.
“It was not listed on the evacuation plan,” Lytol said, reaching over to find the relevant notes.
“Maybe an aivas couldn’t be evacuated,” Jaxom suggested. “They did leave some heavy equipment behind. Not that you could guess its purpose from the slag it is now. But those remains were left in a special room with no doors or windows, only ventilation grills. And thicker walls than usual. We’ll have to go through the ADMIN building.”
“If we can, “Piemur said gloomily.
“That’s a double thickness of the heaviest gauge of their material,” Jancis said thoughtfully. “So far Grandfa cannot find a way of penetrating it, even using the ancients’ drill bits.”
“Aivas, aivas, aivas,” Master Robinton mused. “It doesn’t sound like a real word. An aiva, the aiva, many aivas!” He flicked one hand in a gesture of defeat. “You will stay the night, won’t you, Jancis? Our current cook has a way with fish that’s magical.” His charming smile brought an answering one from Jancis. “Then we can all get up to the Plateau in plenty of time for yet another revelation.”