Athebyne

Before the final War Games exercise, Xaden confirms that he, Bodhi, and Garrick secretly traveled to Athebyne on the night Violet saw them return through the courtyard tunnel. He refuses to explain the purpose of that trip.

Athebyne is assigned as Xaden's Fourth Wing headquarters site in the final War Games exercise, but the outpost is empty when his squad arrives. From there, the group sees the crisis below near Resson and recognizes that the assignment is not an ordinary War Game.

Athebyne is treated as the site of a trap rather than an accident. Xaden blames himself for failing to anticipate Colonel Aetos's punishment, and Brennan rejects the idea that the squad's path into the wyvern attack could have been accidental.

The official return story centers on Athebyne: Xaden and Violet say their squad obeyed orders to establish headquarters there, stopped at the nearby lake, encountered a supposed gryphon attack, found the outpost deserted, and discovered Aetos's note offering an impossible choice.

Athebyne is attacked after its reoccupation, only three days before the report reaches Battle Brief.

Dain's report about Violet's memory of Xaden mentioning Athebyne helps expose how the secret trip reached Colonel Aetos. For Violet, Athebyne names the chain of betrayal that sent her, Liam, and Soleil into lethal danger.

Athebyne serves as the meeting site for Melgren's summit with the movement. The Assembly's classified vote on Melgren's request occurs after the group returns from that summit.

Violet directly names Athebyne when she accuses Aetos of trying to kill the group there.

Krovlan forces attempted a failed border breach near Athebyne on December 11, 433 AU, two days before the Midnight Massacre. That breach becomes part of Violet's theory that the rebels were trying to acquire dragons or feathertails from Navarre.

Athebyne lies on the border of Krovla and Tyrrendor.

The outpost is beyond Navarre's wards and is reached by a long flight into the mountains. The closest lake is about twenty minutes from the outpost by dragonback and serves as a natural stopping point before arrival.

A clearing over the ridgeline from the outpost lies near the edge of the Esben mountain range.

The lake nearest Athebyne sits among jagged peaks, forest, boulders, trampled grass, and shoreline cover. Its surrounding terrain can conceal people near the water before they move on to the outpost.

Athebyne has an armory significant enough that Violet suspects attackers may have searched for weapons there after the outpost was reoccupied.

Athebyne follows a layout familiar enough among Navarrian outposts that Violet uses it as a comparison point when thinking through Samara's structure.

Under the Trade Agreement of Resson, Athebyne hosts scheduled exchanges four times a year.

Athebyne functions as a military outpost whose defenders can be stretched by raids around it. It normally houses more than two hundred people and is considered too important to empty for a training exercise.

Athebyne cannot be brought under Navarre's wards by simply extending them; Mira says attempts to protect places like it that way have failed.

The area near Athebyne remains part of the covert dagger-shipment route, with the exact appointed location kept compartmentalized even among allies.

Athebyne is staffed by defenders and normally supports a population of more than two hundred people. Raids around the outpost threaten that garrison badly enough that abandonment is raised as a possibility if reinforcements do not arrive.

After the War Games emptying, Athebyne is reoccupied before another reported attack on the outpost.

Mira is reported in a censored letter as reassigned to Athebyne, but that posting is no longer current once she tells Violet she was stationed at Samara as of the previous day.

Major Edorta is posted at Athebyne during the discussion of whether a powerful fire wielder could have influenced the flames at Suniva.