The Weeping Stones

A ring of wind-cut standing stones above the Weeping Vault, each beaded with the same warm metal-tasting water — the Bonesung read them as the Vault's outer seal and will not touch them.

Seven stones in an imperfect ring on the mesa's shoulder, worn smooth as knuckles by the same brine-wind that beads the vault door below. Each stone has a groove worn around its base where the warm water drains away and nothing grows. The Bonesung leave them no ash, no poles, no name — their gravesingers say they are the door's listening-ears, and that stepping inside the ring is the same as knocking. Nobody local has tested this since the old ash-father's grandmother's time. The first time you see the vault door bead is usually up here.