Before Allele & Ink had familiar paths, busy laboratories, and places everyone knew by name, there was a much larger property-and a survey that seemed to explain what was on it.
Until Nora started walking.
Old stone walls didn't stand where the maps said they should. Forgotten paving surfaced beneath the grass. A garden appeared where no garden had been recorded. And when Nora followed one more fragment of stonework into Rowan Woods, she found a gate that wasn't supposed to be there.
Beyond it, she and Nico discover an overgrown route climbing through the trees-and at its end, an abandoned Observatory neither of them knew existed.
Finding the building gives them questions, not answers. Who built it? What happened there? Why was it forgotten? With few records to guide them, Nico and Nora begin with what they can observe: worn stone, old repairs, forgotten channels, missing instruments, and the evidence left by people whose names may be lost.
Years later, as Nico and Nora walk that same path with Pippa, the story of the Observatory becomes something more than the story of a discovery. It becomes a story about paying attention, respecting what came before, and understanding that not every missing piece needs to be filled in.
Richly illustrated and quietly adventurous, Under an Older Sky is an Allele & Ink story about curiosity, preservation, and finding something worth continuing.