IX | Cell Visit
Permission would not have been granted, nor did he ask; instead, he went straight to the detention block after his meeting with the prefect and located Shekalane’s cell. It was easy to do, for it was the only one with a light beneath its door. Indeed, it was the only one in the entire cellblock that was occupied.
“Shekalane,” he whispered, crouching, and braced the meal flap open with his finger. “It’s Dravidian.”
At last she said, sounding distant and utterly confused: “I cannot see you. Opening the flap triggers a light: It—it hurts my eyes, and burns the skin of my face. And yet it is cold—the cell, I mean. So cold.”
He withdrew his finger, allowing the flap to close, and thought he heard her teeth chatter. The dragger’s great paddle wheel churned.
“Why have you com
