"And what about Provenance itself?" Noah asked, genuinely curious now. "What identity does the arbiter of the Vasiliou carry?"
Aurelius smiled for the first time, and it was not a warm expression. It was the smile of a man being asked to show a weapon he was proud of.
"Every Provenance Lifeform ripens into an identity, sooner or later. My daughter's ripened toward you, across all time, which is why I did not kill you instantly for doing all this. Because I know most that our Provenances...do not lie." The steam rolled between them.
"And mine ripened on a wall."
The golden waters around him began to hum!
"I am THE Provenance of THE Unfallen Vanguard," Aurelius declared, and the pressure in the cavern thickened until the surface of the spring flattened beneath it!
