They lost a day to the quarry and half a morning to carrying it.
The blue stone weighed exactly as much when freely chosen as any other stone. Chaska tried distributing the sacks along Lilt’s cargo straps, checked the pull against the healing scrape, and removed one again. Ashaun shifted a large piece from her pack to Ysabet’s. Ysabet exchanged it for the lighter pot. Nobody was pleased with the final arrangement.
The wooden beetle waited at the station gate.
“Perhaps you’d carry a little,” Chaska told it.
Its forelegs moved against the dust.
“Thought not.”
Ashaun settled it into the hollow below Suth’s staff handle while they negotiated the rocky descent. When she put the staff down on firm ground, the guide unfolded and went ahead.
Pip followed more slowly than before the station. Its shell had thickened along the upper ridge. The antlers now reached far enough forward that it had to tilt its head to inspect anything close to the ground. The familiar three tones were clearer, resonant in a new way, but they still came without words.
