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You lean in close to the guards. "Aren't you worried it might be…a forgery?" Even whispered, the question slows the flow of onlookers who linger, waiting for an answer.

"Really?" the first guard hisses at you. "You want to create that much of a hassle? Fine." She speaks more loudly: "Since you're so familiar with the city's infrastructure, why don't you examine the casing? Just for structural faults." You nod and play along; pretending to examine the casing is a lot less panic-inducing than actually examining the Orb itself. The onlookers stop to watch you. You make a show of feeling the casing for faults before opening the chest and reaching in for the Orb. It's so light, it tugs your arms up a little as you hold it. You stare into the orange, waxy surface, poring over the scratches, but find nothing unusual. Even the dark figureless solid in the middle looks the same as it always has. Although…although you get a vague feeling that the Orb used to be just that dark solid, in the middle. A feeling that the waxy orange stuff was a later addition. You don't quite know why, though.

You shake it off and indulge yourself for a moment, just enjoying holding the Orb in your hands like this. Your immortality. Everyone's immortality.

The first guard waves at you. "Satisfied?"

You blush and make a show of examining the crystal chest's interior before shoving the Orb back in. "Oh, yeah, it's fine. Sorry for causing such a scene."

There's a collective sigh from the crowd as they resume their previous rhythm of pacified order. But shouldn't something so important demand better evidence, more verification? It might very well have been a fake, and then where would you all be? Where is Ichtare? Shouldn't the leader of the merfolk council be here overseeing things? Then from out in the crowd, you hear someone mutter, "Pity." You try to scan to see who said it, but their face is lost.

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