Chapter 727: Something for Ourselves

Chapter 727: Something for Ourselves

Ira put her finger on the illustration before the scribe finished reading its heading.

"That one. What does it say?"

Pell Orrow looked over the manual at her. Sella had recommended him when the bookseller closed his awning for supper, and he had already made it clear that pointing at a different page did not finish the passage he was reading.

"The warning about drying racks first," he said. "Unless you intend to ruin whatever you bring back."

Ira withdrew her finger. Leon hid a smile and moved the lamp closer.

They had taken a room behind Pell’s shop for the evening. Loriel’s little blue plant occupied the windowsill, while Vyra had spread their notes across a table that barely accommodated them. Outside, the last market stalls were being packed away.

Pell finished the warning, waited for Vyra to write it down, and finally turned to Ira’s stone.

The drawing showed a dark red mineral inside a bed of paler rock. One specimen had been cut open to expose dense bands within it.

"Hearthseal," Pell read. "Found in the warm courts of Hollow Steps, where the channels run hot and slow. Heavy for its size. An intact skin retains the fire within. Once cracked, it can lose much of its stored energy within a day."

"How do you lift it?" Ira asked.

"By leaving enough of the surrounding bed to support it." He tapped the illustration. "This part stays attached. Trim it later, when you know what you’re doing."

Ira leaned closer. "And how do you tell whether the skin’s cracked?"

Pell read that passage too.

Leon watched her following the drawing with unusual patience. She had looked at plenty of fire materials since arriving in this world. Most had interested her for about as long as it took to learn what they did.

This one had kept her quiet through an entire warning about drying racks.

"It may not occur in the courts that become accessible this time," Vyra said, finishing a line.

"I know." Ira pointed at the intact specimen. "But this is one I actually want to examine."

Leon asked Pell to continue. They had come for information, and he was quite happy to pay for another passage if it kept that expression on her face.

The next illustration showed loose stones suspended above a channel.

"When the current reverses, leave the beds," Pell explained. "Get onto the bare steps. Put down anything you haven’t freed properly. People hurt themselves trying to save half-cut deposits."

Seraphine studied the drawing. "Does it lift everything?"

"Loose material near the channel. Not the whole hillside." Pell rubbed an ink stain on his thumb. "The collectors call it a court taking a breath. Watch the steam. If it starts running backward, don’t stand there wondering whether the warning applies to you."

Vyra marked that passage separately. They paid the agreed fee when she finished, then stayed the night in Asterbank.

By the following afternoon, the five were back at the spring.

Bai Heng took the translated pages before Leon had finished explaining them. His preparation bench held several covered trays, each marked with the date and the batch it belonged to.

"The frost-thread notes add a step after drying," he said. "That may help with the discoloration."

"Try a small portion first," Loriel told him. "Pell could read the instructions, but he doesn’t prepare it himself."

Bai nodded and put that page beside an unfinished tray.

Thirty Palace members were together at the spring again. Eighteen remained at the entrance site, and Tian’s reply confirmed that nothing had changed there. The missing gateway had not returned.

Leon discussed Hollow Steps with Wen Shu and Bai Heng that evening. Twenty-five would stay here when his household left; their collection and guard arrangements could continue without him.

"We’ll allow twelve days from departure," Leon said. "If we can reach plaque range sooner, we’ll report. Otherwise, expect us back by then."

"And if you’re late?" Wen Shu asked.

"Allow two more days, then send a pair to ask at Sella Venn’s shop. She’ll know our destination. Don’t send anyone into Hollow Steps after us."

Wen Shu repeated the arrangements before passing them to Tian through the camp’s tested link. Leon was glad she asked practical questions without turning his departure into an argument.

He wanted this trip for himself and the women. The spring was secure, the people staying behind had worthwhile work, and he did not need to apologize for wanting something more interesting than another evening beside the preparation bench.

Over the next five days, the household made ready.

Loriel settled her two living wellheart plants in shallow trays of their original soil. The small test sample remained separate. She checked the plants morning and evening, recording changes before attempting anything further with them.

Her bellshade sat beside the trays. Leon found her turning its pot toward the light one morning, smiling when a blue flower brushed her knuckle.

"Does that one need a record too?" he asked.

"No. It needs you to stop shading it."

He moved, and she caught his sleeve before he could go far enough to be offended.

Ira borrowed the hearthseal notes so often that Vyra made her a copy. She asked Bai Heng what preparations might preserve the mineral’s internal structure; he suggested possibilities, then admitted he would need an actual specimen.

Seraphine checked their route to Asterbank and chose the clearer ridge path. Vyra reviewed the containers awaiting them at Sella’s shop and added wrapping material for intact mineral beds.

Leon prepared one small jar of the mineral-and-plant mixture that had worked in his recent tests. He wanted a familiar comparison when he reached the changing courts.

His Scripture could already circulate uneven supplies. Adjusting the mixture before a session was manageable. Following a change while the whole arrangement kept running was less comfortable. He tended to ease the intake, alter the branches, and bring them back up together.

At Hollow Steps, the surroundings would not pause while he did that.

I’d like to get through one change without having to restart half the damn thing.

He kept the jar with his notes. The rest of the waiting passed in ordinary work, meals with the women, and the occasional check on what his other body was seeing farther afield. Nothing there required him to abandon this opportunity.

A week after Sella’s original assessment, they left the spring before dawn. They reached Asterbank that afternoon, collected the order, and planned to start the two-day northern walk the next morning.

"Two cases of lined boxes, drying screens, four sealed jars," Sella said, checking her slate. "Already paid."

Vyra inspected the contents. Leon stored the entire order in his ring as soon as she finished.

Sella watched the cases disappear. "Useful piece of work."

"Very," Leon agreed.

"The Hall collected yesterday. They’ll be on the northern road by now." She pointed past him. "And you should look from the end of the street before supper."

Leon followed her gesture.

Beyond the roofs, a thin white plume stood above the northern ridge. It had not been there when they first visited the market.

Ira joined him, her folded notes tucked inside her coat.

"That’s the Steps?" she asked.

Sella came to the doorway. "They started steaming this morning."

Leon watched the plume bend east. They had left enough time to arrive before the expected opening, and now he was glad of every day they had saved.