"The opened skylight, yes," Mato nods.

Tien shook his head: "Unfortunately not. Though I would have welcomed one. Last Christmas I only received a Philipp Patek - and that one was delivered directly from the vendor."

Gladius replied: "Yes, the skylight latch is broken. The only obstacle is the ward, but at a magnification level of 12 I'd expect the spirit to have little trouble. As an Id shard, it has the abililty to engulf objects in their aura, so the transport should be possible, despite the ridiculous speed involved."

"Yeah, he can get inside. Has done it before, when we went back to 'free' the spirit that was there to ambush you. Well... disrupt, actually. It was the only thing I could do for that poor soul. I really hope that the suffering is at least less now."

"When we get your son back, and I sincerely hope that we do, and we get him to sit down and talk, I really need to have a word with him about how he is treating his spirits at some point. Honestly, I hope it is just Victorias current influence. But that spirit was tormented. The whole astral area inside the apartment is tainted because of it. It's just... it's not right."

"Anyways, I will be out for a bit and check the apartment. And if it is clear, I will go in and fetch some items that can be used as a material link. AM, maybe you can ask Trouble to fly around the plane astrally for a while, so I have an easier time finding it on my way back."

Oh wow, do conjurers even go up on planes? Though riding in the eye of a storm seems extreme. I am beginning to feel DB's disappointment when I proved not to be a conjurer - but I can't complain - sorcery is plenty, and I can still understand the theory of everything else - even if I don't practice it.

"Trouble will do it; if he gets bored, I'll craft a minor watcher spirit to beacon you. If so, my watchers look like Buffalos." Truth is told, I miss my Tatankas. Never felt a need for them since I had Trouble.


To Gladius I say "I think we should find the accident site, I think it would be less condensed than the hospital - with all the other patients being there and obscuring the astral. Does anyone know exactly where the accident happened? "

Bringing a painting faster than a plane can fly? Truly magic is a marvel!

Tamarind doesn't have much to add to the current discussion, so she simply offers to sit watch on Rachel's body -- some mages don't seem to mind leaving their bodies lying around alone, but Tamarind knows that she's happier having someone make sure her body is OK.

Tasking the air spirit to fetch a painting turned out to be no big deal. Traveling through the astral was pretty easy and even the barrier was no problem if you didn't care about being noticed.
Now, the spirit stood before the paintings and waited for Rachel to choose which to bring.

Meanwhile, the private jet had reached its travel speed of about 1000km/h - rather sedate compared to the more than four times faster spirit.
Still that meant that the team could reach San Angelo within three hours, compared to the expected one day and eight hours that the fugitive mages would need.

Taking out the half day headstart, the team looked at a comfortable 22 hours prep time, when they landed at 2155h in San Angelo.

The air was humid and warm when they left the plane at the private airfield. Tien had booked hotel rooms for everyone close by as well as two rental cars.
Passing security was a breeze - the lone guard didn't even get up from his chair, but just waved the team through with their equipment.

Outside the air spirit waited with the painting.

Once Rachel had returned to her body, Tamarind did her best to get some sleep. She had a feeling that things would get busy once they landed.

Once she was woken up for the landing she did her best to rinse the cobwebs out of her head, then said "So, order of operations once we land, let me see if I understand the plan. It will take me a few minutes to get the drones out once we are on the ground. Then we go to our hotel to leave anything that we don't want to drive around with, and maybe quickly shower and change for the weather. There is a ritual to be done by Gladius, using the painting. Do you need to make a temporary lodge first? And is simply doing it in the hotel OK, or do you want to be somewhere more conducive? Then there is looking for magical trace where the accident was -- this is seperate from what is being done with the painting? And since they may realize that Gladius lives they will have likely changed up their plans some, but likely only a bit because they are not good at this, so we should look at where a likely intercept point my be in case the magic doesn't let us intercept? Or am I misunderstanding?"

"Oh, and if we don't have a truck or van then perhaps we can arrange to leave Toothless in the hangar for now? It can handle highways so we can call it later. But if it is cars we might want to look at renting a truck in case we have to go off road."

Gladius replied: "No, I need no ritual meditation. My shard handles the pattern recognition process autonomously. Though it will take a few hours. Meanwhile though I'm mobile. And yes, the painting is only needed for predicting when and where our paths intersect with Tien IV.
The accident site is connected to Arione only. The fact that they are coming back here for their ritual indicates to me that there is a connection.

Your drone should fit in the rental. Out here in Texas they are rather gratiously spaced.

Though we could split up right now - one crew visiting the hospital to find out more about when Arione was admitted - likely a job for a decker and a rigger. While people with hyperconsciousness can examine the accident site."

"AM is both, so clearly we shall cleave her in two and each take half -- just make sure that you have the half with reagents in its pockets and I take the half with the deck." The joke comes out before she remembers that she has terrible delivery and people don't seem to know if she is joking half of the time. Part of why it is usually better to listen more and talk less.

"But more seriously, you and Rachel could take Mato to watch while you are busy in the Astral, and AM and I could go to the hospital. She can talk and deck and do magic if needed, and I can watch her back and do simple matrix activities. Hopefully we are far enough ahead of them, and they with little enough knowledge about us, that they won't have effective counter-measures already in place."

"In the car accident... who were the driver and the backseat passenger that were killed?" Mato asks. The question is mainly addressed to the III, but also to the rest of the team.

His eyes drift over to Gladius.

"It sounds like ambushing people is part of Victoria's modus operandi. Do we even know that she was in the car at the time of the accident? Or, if she was in the car, a sufficiently large spirit - routine for someone with a doctorate in ritualistic summoning - could consume the vehicle while protecting Victoria.

"Let's see if there was an public record of who was killed. If not, let's see if the hospital has a report. Or, failing that, the local morgues."

"Yeah, after re-reading the part that AM could find out about the accident, it does not sound like an accident at all. Someone tampered with the car's battery. We really need to figure out who the other people in the car were, and if they were relevant."

"I can go to the 'accident' site, sure."

Praise Iktomi, I am a Sorcerer, but I can understand Tam's confusion. Transitioning from an atheist Christian teenager into a Shaman was quite a shock. Sorcory came at a terrible price, from hyper-rational and rather safe existence to the constant danger of having a relationship with the great spirit of knowledge, mischief, and trickery. I worship a deity that scares the crap out of me, forcing me to look over my shoulder and expect a life of hardship, mischief, and growth but not harmony or happiness. It is a lot to accept - even if I got sorcery in this bargain. Though every time I use a spell, I remind myself that it is Iktomi's blessing - and that like all relationships it has a price. Every step I take toward the Wakan Tanaka, toward more sorcery and more power, is dangerous. It is not a coincidence that mages tend to go bad more than the rest of the population. I suspect that few can interact with the divine without being fundamentally changed by these interactions.



I listen carefully and say "Alright, I'll go to the hospital with Tamarind and perhaps Mato to access the medical files from the accident. We got it covered between technical and social skills."

I pause a bit more to gauge the room and then suggest Raven and Gladius can examine the incident site, and if you need another pair of eyes, I'll join you. Though honestly, I am far from an expert in that field, and if I join you, it would be mainly to learn and practice. What I can do for you if you require is augment your natural perception to make understanding and observing more accessible."

"In the meanwhile, I want to go to Wonderland to scan all the accessible sources before gaining access to the medical files, and possibly police files, " I comment, suspecting that Lonestar does the policing here which may render the KE contact impractical for this, but a quick Trixing would give me these answers.

I look at the team, waiting for a polite moment to go to Wonderland and start figuring things out, and assessing what we would need to access the hospital's medical files on the incident. >> Tam, do you do Trix searches? - it can be a lot of fun, we can do some homework before physically inspecting the hospital or whatnot.

Gladius nodded.
"Alright, we regroup at the hotel, freshen up and move out at 2300h."

Tien added: "I took the liberty of checking us in already - I transferred your room keys to you.
Good luck and good hunting."

The hotel was only 15 minutes away from the airfield - nothing overly luxurious, but Tien had splurged for the premium packet that included extra large beds and a well stocked snack bar.
A shame that the team wasn't going to stay long enough to actually enjoy them.

Another advantage: the hotel was fully automated, so no-one had to deal with curious staff.

"I'll go to the accident site," Mato says. "I know it's a long time past but I want to see the lay of the land, to see if it's a place where driver error could be a factor like the report said.

"Here's a thought going the other direction: maybe the accident wasn't a hit on the driver or the backseat passenger. Perhaps those were friends or loved ones. Maybe Victoria thinks that she can use the X-T to 'bring them back', so to speak.

"Either way, let's find out."

Mato wants a shower now that he's off the plane. He appreciates III handling the logistics so that the team can focus on the task at hand. He'll shower and eat (if he didn't eat on the plane) and be ready by 23:00.

"Yeah, I had thought about that as well. There must be a reason why this place is so important to her."

Tamarind replies to AM "Matrix searches fun? When you never know if you gave up too soon, if there is some key piece of information hidden just beyond where you penetrated? No, I wouldn't call them fun myself. But yes, I can do them competently. Maybe not at your level, but competently."

Once they have the information about the doctor and paramedics, she suggests "We should go talk to them -- and maybe guard them? Seems like the sort of loose end that a psychopathic magician might decide to send a spirit to clean up?"

"Don't let the FOMO blind you to the wonders of creation just because you may not see them all. The Matrix, virtual reality, neural interfaces, and artificial intelligence are all nothing but modern days miracles.

"Yes lets go to the hospital, and try to get the medical files. Let's bring some chocolates so people would assume we came to visit a patient."

With the grouping decided, the team split up.

AM and Tamarind headed with the GMC for the hospital, while Mato, Rachel and Gladius took the Ford out into the wild.

2330h: San Angelo Hospital

Despite the late hour, there was a lot of traffic in and out of the hospital. Especially Aeroquip Dustoff drones de- and ascended in swarms on the roof of the building, delivering their stabilized patients directly into a very efficient system. For the less fortunate i.e. poor people there was the emergency room reachable by foot. Quite a lot of gunshot victims it seemed, as AM and Tamarind made their way through the open doors and past the weapon scanners, where a heavily armored lonestar cop sat and made everyone give up their god given right of carrying more weaponry than the average national guard.

"Put your irons in the basket and move through the scanner."

2345h: Some 20km west of San Angelo

Outside the city, the light pollution quickly diminished and something like true night made an appearance. Left and right along the road, endless fields of soy and corn filled the horizon while a nearly full moon shone its pale light on everything.

Gladius slowed down the car as the GPS indicated that they were nearly at their destination.

I carry no sidearm, as much as I love them. So I enter the scanner I removed my personal belongings and act politely to the guard.

"Don't bring chocolates," Mato suggests. "It's almost midnight. Nobody visits patients at midnight. If you're going to bring sweets, bring them as bribes for the nurses and orderlies."

~~~

This is Texas and Mato isn't sure what to wear. He'd wear a cowboy hat and cowboy boots if he had them, but he doesn't. So should he go functional with the armor jacket or remain stylish in case there are interactions with the authorities?

He goes with the Chasseur Field Uniform, reasoning that the social component is more important than the fire-proof aspect of the armor jacket. He debates whether it's more suspicious or less suspicious to have a gun in the CAS. He splits the difference by putting his Walther in the Ford. He packs some throwing knives in his smuggling compartment and calls it good. He can pose as a foreign dandy if any Lone Star patrols want to question him.

At the scene of the accident, he's not really sure what he'll find. The accident was two years ago and that certainly seems like enough time for Mother Nature to wipe out any physical traces of what happened. But he'll put his sensors and his common sense to work to see if they uncover anything unusual. The people who wrote the report seemed inclined to attribute things to bad luck, which implies a certain degree of laziness, which then implies a propensity to overlook things.

Perception:

Tamarind had left her drones and her Ingram in the truck, but duly deposited her taser with the guard. Maybe here it would have been more normal to have had something more serious to leave than a taser? Well, something to figure out.

She also set her RCC to basic commlink functionality, and hoped that it would pass without comment. She'd like to have her drones ready to provide cover in the unlikely situation that things went sideways. But until they could get out to the drones she'd be completely dependent on AM for defenses. Hopefully there wouldn't be physical problems.

If there is an opportunity to do any matrix searches here, she helps AM

2335h: San Angelo Hospital

Moving through the scanner proved to be no problem. Tamarind was even allowed to keep her taser. Now that they had passed that hurdle, they stood in front of a reception. Unlike the massive drone flood above, it seemed rather quiet here. A series of AR kiosks with an animated avatar looking like a hispanic nurse greeted the two women. The closest one turned to them with a dazzling smile:

"Good evening, what is the nature of your emergency? Please speak clearly and make sure your SIN is broadcasting as well as your Doc Waggon contract. Should you have no contract you may now open one for a one-time emergency fee of only 99.99 Nuyen."

2345h: Some 20km west of San Angelo

Mato wouldn't have thought that two years after there were still traces left, but he could clearly make out where the car had left the road as the wheels had dug deep ruts into the gravel shoulder. Looking closer he could even make out the dent that the car had left after its high power impact inside the ditch. One thing was immediately clear: There was no curvature to the road. Whoever drove must have jerked the steering wheel suddenly and violently to the right to cause an accident here.
Someone trying to avoid a collision with a deer or some other obstactle might have acted like that. You'd have to be very inattentive though to not notice the obstactle at this spot where there was quite a lot of space left and right from the road where nothing could appear so suddenly.

Stopping the car, Gladius got out and looked around. Mato went closer to the ditch and felt a shiver run down his spine. Something wasn't right here.

Rachel noticed at once an elevated background count. Fear, pain and death had marked this spot. Even more interesting, it wasn't a spot, but a line that ran roughly from east to west, carrying this psychic imprint.

With her senses trained on the astral, Rachel is looking for those lingering imprints, that after all this time are still noticable. This must have been a rather terrifying incident to leave such a mark. She informs the others of her findings. Surely, Gladius and his 'second mind' had also noticed it.

The sudden jerking of the wheel could also have been from a materializing spirit in front of the car.

Her astral gaze follows the line. How long is it? Where does it originate and where does it end?

I look around for a device to hack and get a mark on the system, preferably unseen. Then that device just greets me, so I walk toward the kiosk and search for a universal access port to directly connect.

2336h: San Angelo Hospital

The kiosk was protected by the hospital host (A5S6D7F8) and it's UDP was locked with a plate, secured by a simple lock. It wouldn't be hard to break or pick, but doing so in plain view would take a bit of finesse.



2346h: Some 20km west of San Angelo

Rachel realized that this line was in fact a weak leyline. The deaths had left an imprint and either were so strong that they had changed a minor ley line, or - what she deemed more likely - the death, pain and fear effect had been caused by the same thing that had derailed the car.

Gladius had evidently come to the same conclusion: "There is a line of force running through the ground here. The psychological aspect is... worrying. I don't think it's a coincidence that the accident happened here. This line leads somewhere important, I'm sure. The question is, should we move east or west."

"Can we check the directions on a map? Maybe that will give us a clue as to where to start..." Rachel wonders.

"How far to the Aztlan border?" Mato asks. "That sets an upper limit on how far we can go west.

"Are these lines of force always straight? If we can calculate the angle then perhaps my math SPU can superimpose a projection over a mapsoft."

Mato prowls around more, looking to see if there's evidence of the blaze.

"Spirit materialization is a good theory," Mato tells Rachel. "But how does Victoria escape? Just through the powers of a spirit protecting her? Or is she not in the car at all, and this is just an execution?

"She didn't want any attention from the staff mage at the hospital, which probably means that she didn't want anyone snooping around her aura."

I use Trouble to distract viewers, by running around who would look at the elf that appears to be registering to docwagon when there is a cat to look at, right? At least this is the story I tell myself when I quickly make way for my deck.

Tamarind understands what is up once Trouble starts romping around. She says, loudly enough, "You just fight through that darn registration, and I'll catch the darn cat!"

Then she dumps her coat on the terminal, trusting AM to move it around to help hide what is needed, and then goes and plays a hopeless game of tag with the spirit cat.

2337h: San Angelo Hospital

The distraction was more than enough: A sharp tug with the edge of her beltbuckel broke free the universal data port. making a direct connection easy to the R2 machine.

2347h: Some 20km west of San Angelo

Gladius with his GPS noted: "We are barely a mile from the border. Though there is an anomally close by - something like neutral territory. It's marked as a farm neither belonging to Azlan nor CAS. Must be some kind of reservation."

"Then let's check that out first," Rachel offers.

"If there is nothing noteworthy in this direction, at least as far as we get, then we can still try the other way."

I can feel the adrenaline as I borrow the booth's permission from the host for some extracurricular activities, such as searching the medical files for Arione's accident or any other records from the day of the accident. Within a few seconds, Trouble would allow herself to be captured, but by then, I'll be done - one way or another.

Tamarind gives Trouble some head scratches as she heads back to the door, saying out loud "Not sure how this one got in, but I'd better get them OUT.". Then as she approaches the guard she says "Not sure how this critter snuck in, but we don't want to cause you any trouble, mind if I just take it out to my truck for now? I'll drive it off somewhere after we are done.". Once past the guard she paused and asks "do you have many strays around here?"

She could never lie to the guard without flushing and stammering, but by sticking to something close to the truth she can help focus attention her way without having to do anything too socially taxing.

"I agree," Mato tells Raven. "Toward Aztlan first.

"Would you like to traverse the distance astrally first? It will not take me long to walk the distance, but it will take longer than your magical flight."

2338h: San Angelo Hospital

With very little effort AM forced a Matrix Recognition Key on the kiosk and gained the means to access the host as well.

The security guard shrugged: "Probably just a patient bringing in their pet. It happens. Pain to sterilize the place, but then, most of our customers are worse. I'll just ask over the PA system."

True to his word, he sent the message out: "A small, cute, black cat has been found in the ER reception area. The owner can collect it there."

It didn't take more than 30 seconds until a small, slightly obese woman in her late 40ies with her quite definitely obese 10ish daughter came waddling to the security booth and demanded: "That's our cat. Hand it over."

2348h: Some 20km west of San Angelo

Astral inspection showed that the line did indeed lead towards a fenced off compound that was on both sides patrolled by spirits - and obviously those spirits did not regard each other with friendliness.

Rachel will first report this back to the others, and also take a closer look at the spirits from the distance before trying anything.





"Maybe I should make a quick astral reconnaissance the other way now? See where the ley line leads in that direction, before we make any decisions."

2349h: Some 20km west of San Angelo

Rachel kept her distance and observed.

Both sides had spirits of a power level roughly equivalent to her own power - clearly bound servants. The CAS side employed two elemental spirits - air and fire, while the Azlan side had a guardian and a beast spirit. They stayed sharply on their side, not entering the compound.

The leyline crossed dead center through the demarkated areal. As far as she could make out, the place looked abandoned - a dilapidated farm house, some barns and a few acres of land surrounded by barbed wire.

Rachel had the distinct impression, that not having anyone enter this place was very high on the list of priorities for both sides.

Following the ley line in the other direction brought her back to the north of San Angelo, where the line vanished underground.

I access the host and search for the medical files or accident reports to see what they have on Arion's accident.

If I find anything, I'll examine it to see if I can access it.


Trouble plays along with Tamarind's nonsense, amused by the unfolding situation.

After rejoining with Mato and Gladius, Rachel determines: "Seems pretty clear, that this fenced off area is the destination. But what could it be?"

She sends a message via the team channel: << Hey AM! If you are free, maybe you can take a look at this place here on the map with your Matrixery. I'm sure Mato can send you proper coordinates. There is an old, probably abandoned farm in a place right on the border, which does not seem to belong to either side, but they both have spirits here patrolling and keeping people out. At least, that is the assumption, not having tried anything, yet. This must be pretty important, considering the effort put into guarding this from both sides. And why is this neutral territory? There must be some kind of agreement between the CAS and Aztlan about this place with the spirits put here to make sure it is honored. There's also a ley line here, carrying the imprint of fear, pain and death, which runs through this farm, through the accident site, and ends somewhere in San Angelo, where it goes underground. >>

2338h: San Angelo Hospital

AM entered the hospital host, finding herself in a drab, boring VR environment that had nothing to offer to the eye.

At least it was organized and her search quickly found the relevant incident report.

It was nearly identical to the one they already had, though in this one were the remarks of the doctor and the paramedics included.
"Suspicious lack of any injuries, despite blood on the ground. Magic healing?"
and
"Very bad feeling - I almost couldn't go near her. I was somehow afraid."

She also found the stations where the doctor and one of the paramedics were currently: The Doctor was on rounds on lvl 3 and the paramedic was on drone duty. Both their comm codes were included.

I send the comments to the team + Gladius - their guess is as good as mine.
>> Got the file, Tien has probably dug it before it is the same as the one in our file - but look at these comments.

I text the paramedic at drone duty first. >> Hi there, I am a private investigator, and I am looking into this car crash that seems very unusual. Can I get your help for five minutes? I am at the hospital and have some chocolates Emma.

I am hoping that drone duty would be easier to excuse than disturbing a doctor mid-rounds, and the nature of the paramedic's comment is more intriguing.


>> I'll investigate a bit; give me a few minutes once I am done with the hospital.
and true to my word I look for a farm near San Angelo right on the border with Atzlan that matches the description.

2348h: San Angelo Hospital

The paramedic answered:

<<I've got a 5 minute break - those are better real chocolates>>

Only a minute later, a broad shouldered hispanic looking ork left the elevator and headed for AM:

"What's this about? You know that I have to deal with hundrets of accidents throughout the year. What makes you think I can remember one specific?"

I toss the paramedic one of my Mars packs from my purse. I open the other one and bite; Iktomi knows I deserve it. Hundreds, wow - I did not know driving was that dangerous." I say, to ease the tension and get to the point "A car accident two years ago, someone that gave you a bad feeling to the point she was difficult to stand near. Does that ring any bells? "

The paramedic blanched a bit.
"Ah, that one. Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do remember that one. Car crash, two people dead, burned alive inside their vehicle. A young woman just sitting there, watching the car burning with a slack face, covered in blood but with no visible injuries."

He took a bite from the Mars bar and continued: "When my colleague and I tried to approach her, she looked at us and it was as if we had walked into a wall. I imagine that that's what a mouse feels when it stares into the eyes of a snake. I was litterally shaking in my boots. And then she blinked and smiled at us and it was over. We helped her up and brought her to the ambulance. Scans showed no injuries, neither internal nor external. But she still didn't say a word, only looked at us and smiled.
Once we got her to the hospital, she suddenly became active as if she finally had woken up or as if she just realized what was happening.
In any case she got up and told us she was a mage and had already healed herself. Lonestar came over and took her prints. After that she was let go.

Anything else you want to know?"

I think for a brief moment and take a small bite. "Did she smell like fire? was there any damage to her clothes to indicate a physical injury?" I think a bit and then add . Was she magically examined at any point?

"Let's go look at it in person," Mato says. "Let's walk. It will be more subtle than driving.

"Are the spirits patrolling to keep people out of the farm? Or are they there to keep an eye on each other, and the farm is just neutral territory between them?" he asks.

"The CAS-Aztlan border is one of the unfriendliest boundaries in the world. Do they look like, ah, government spirits?" He has no idea if this question makes sense, but he imagines that a government personality creates a government spirit.

"So if you were a ritualist expert with questionable sanity, what would you be doing here?" Mato asks Raven. "Is she trying to harness the ley line, or to affect it somehow? Could an accident like that taint the ley line itself, poisoning the well so to speak?"

"Well, who else would put the spirits there, but the two border patrol forces? It seemed like they are there to prevent anyone from getting inside and to keep an eye on each other, but without actually trying, it is still just a guess. I have no idea what is there. It seems obvious, that she wants to harness the power of that ley line in some way. But to what end... no idea."

2350h: San Angelo Hospital

The man frowned: "No, definitely no fire. She looked like she had been thrown out of the car - at least her clothes looked like that. Rips and tears. Also, as mentioned, her clothes were bloody, even though she looked healed.

As far as I know, she never was examined by one of our mages."

2354h: Some 20km west of San Angelo

Gladius agreed on walking, and the team made their way through a corn field. The regular rows made traversing easy and only five minutes later, they stood hidden in the edge of the field, looking at the warded compound. Signs on the fence told them that this was restricted territory and only officially sanctioned personell were allowed to enter. Another sign said the same thing, but much simpler: Private Property, stay out or you'll be shot.

On the astral side, the spirits definitely were keeping an eye on the perimeter as well as opposition, flying high enough to keep line of sight to both.

"Interesting...I wonder why she did not wear a seatbelt where the other two likely did. I say, trying to wrap my head around all the bits and pieces. Do you remember her relative position to the car? If she was tossed out, was it through the front windshield or what?

"How big are those spirits?" Mato asks Gladius and Raven. "Small enough that we can take them out if they object to our presence, or do we need to avoid that at all costs?"

He turns his eyes, ears, and other sensors onto the dilapidated farm house and barns to see if he can register anything unusual about the property. He walks along the barbed wire, looking for other sensors, drones, or markers of a border.