Lina stood a few steps behind him, her wrap caught close around her arms against the cool morning air. She had come barefoot over the damp path without a sound. In this half-light her face looked even younger, though there was nothing childlike in the way she stared at the opening.

He straightened too fast. The world gave a quick ugly tilt. He steadied himself on the berm and waited for the spinning to pass. “You should not sneak up on people near holes in the ground.”

“I did not sneak.” She glanced at his hand on the moss, then at the slit behind the vines. “You came back.”

Elias kept his hand on the moss and said, “Yes.”

She stepped closer, but not close enough to look down into it. “I thought you would.” Her voice dropped. “Please do not go there.”

He brushed dirt from his fingers. “You told me not to stand on the dark places. You were right. There are access points under the landscaping. There are people moving through them. I need to know where they lead.”

Lina shook her head once. “Need is a hard word here.”

“It is still the right one.” He tried to soften it when he saw her mouth tighten. “I’m only looking. I’m not going to start a war with your garden machinery.”

“That is not what I mean.” She looked over her shoulder toward the brighter terraces as if the open sky of the dome might help her find words. “Below is not like here. Things go away there. Sounds go away. People do too.”