In Starfall Town, the well stood at the dead end of the street—a circular basin hewn from dark stone. It was nearly identical in shape to the one in the southern town, save for one striking difference: it had no lid.
The southern well had been sealed by a thick slab of ice, making it a labor just to peer inside or cast the azure light within. But here, the mouth of the well lay wide open.
"Is the ice so weak that it doesn't even require a lid?" Asahi asked.
He rested his hands on the rim. The black stone was cold to the touch, yet the air rising from the depths carried a faint, lingering warmth amidst the chill.
"The freezing is incomplete," he noted.
Kuon illuminated the interior with his prosthetic eye. The azure light swept down the stone walls and struck the bottom. The ice there was nothing like that of the southern well—which had been hard, blue-black, and had kept the Names utterly entombed.
This ice was white and thin. And it was webbed with cracks.
"It's breaking," Koyoi whispered.
He leaned over the edge. Thin fissures, like a spider's web, ran across the frozen surface. From deep within those cracks, the light of the Names leaked out—faint, but unmistakable.
In the southern well, the light had been buried so deep it was invisible, but here, it had drifted up, floating just beneath the surface.
"The Names... they're moving."
Kuon adjusted the angle of his azure light. Within the ice, grains of light drifted sluggishly. They weren't fully frozen; they moved as if swimming through half-melted slush.
"The quality of the ice is different here," Kuon said. "This ice was formed by the will of the Names themselves."
"Their will?"
"Voluntary stasis. These are the ones who followed the First God's example and offered up their own Names. A freezing chosen rather than forced results in brittle ice."
Kuon consulted the descriptions from the Scriptural Archives.
"It matches the records. There were two types of freezing orders: the 'Commanded Stasis' and the 'Compliant Stasis.' The one who commanded was the First God. Those who complied were the first among the gathered gods to answer the call."
"So there were those who answered, and those who didn't," Asahi murmured.
"Those who refused were later forced into it. Their ice is impenetrable. But for those who went willingly... the ice becomes this."
Kuon pointed toward the well wall. Before their eyes, a single crack widened ever so slightly. The light of a Name spilled from the gap, faintly illuminating the inner stones.
Koyoi placed both hands on the rim. Through the stone, he could feel the warmth from the bottom vibrating upward. The pouch at his side felt warm, too.
They were pulsing in the same rhythm.
The Names within the well and the droplet inside his pouch were breathing in perfect unison.
"You want to go home, don't you?" Koyoi spoke softly to the well. Another crack spread.
"Koyoi," Kuon warned, his voice sharp. "Do not project your emotions toward them. If your feelings reach that unstable ice, it will collapse all at once. If a Name escapes the ice in a place like this, without the protection of the Great Providence, it will simply vanish."
Koyoi pulled his hands away, but the warmth remained etched into his fingertips.
"...But they’re trying to go back on their own. If they froze by their own will, they should be able to melt by their own will, right?"
Kuon didn't answer immediately. After a long silence, he spoke softly.
"Theoretically."
Asahi looked down into the depths. "Theory is one thing. The reality is the cracks. This ice won't last much longer."
At the bottom of the well, a single light drifted up until it was just beneath the surface. Divided only by a gossamer-thin membrane of ice, Koyoi’s eyes met the light. It felt warm. Then, it sank back down.
But the fact remained: it had risen.
Koyoi gripped his pouch. The droplet pulsed in response. From the sky above, another star fell, brushing the rim of the well before vanishing into the dark.