The first well courtyard sat west of the main road, surrounded by three low buildings and a broken statue too worn to identify. Wing saw the courtyard from above before Liam reached it, showing a circular space with relatively open sightlines and two possible exits. Smoke checked the nearest building and found mostly empty rooms, though one floor had rot beneath a layer of dust. Liam approached only after both feeds gave him no immediate threat.
The well itself looked intact.
That meant nothing.
Dark staining marked one side of the stone lip, and the rope mechanism had snapped long ago, leaving a rusted hook hanging over black water. The smell rising from it was not foul enough to prove contamination, but not clean enough to trust. Eldervale water could carry Myst distortion, rot, or something less obvious. Students would want water quickly once they reached the base. That made the wells both valuable and dangerous.
Unsafe until tested.
He did not touch it.
