It had been only a day or so since he'd gotten his echoes back -- for the second time in two weeks, it seemed. Aaron was still getting used to it -- to keeping an eye out for the little creatures that targeted the Numbered, to remembering to check the Network -- and so it was sheer luck that he found himself in a lull, and thought to look.

Where is he? was his first thought. Germany? His mind went through the time the message had been sent, what light had been coming into the room, and calculating time zones, and Germany seemed the most likely bet.

We're going to skip the travel montage: the asking for advice over the network on a phone, the palantir-search, the throwing of supplies into a bag, the use of the teleporter, the climb, the walk, the double-check in the palantir around a quiet corner and the grim tightening of his expression, the ride, the shouldering of the bag in front of the hotel. No, we're going to skip to the door opening, to him stepping inside, and to him searching the rooms for Julien. He had to still be here, he would not have left--