On the fifth morning of the countdown—one day before Ilyra’s Early Jade echo was due to arrive at sunrise—the senior fighters were ordered out of the seal court before the first drill began. While a pale sun climbed through high mare’s-tail clouds above the northern ridge, Seyun, Ilyra. Daro Kesh stood behind the six-foot granite screen wall at the southern entrance of the terrace, forbidden by Pera and Kes to peek around the stonework while wood scraped and ropes slapped against stone inside the ring.
“It feels strange standing behind the novice wall while my own student sets the stakes in the yard,” Daro remarked dryly. He leaned one shoulder against the frosted granite with his arms folded over his chest.
Being banished behind the six-foot granite screen wall at the southern entrance of the seal court while Pera, Kes, Senn, Maren. Tov rearranged the flat stone slabs was an unexpected lesson in humility for three fighters who had spent the week planning the fate of the valley.
For ten full minutes, Seyun, Ilyra, and Daro stood out of sight on the frosted gravel behind the screen wall. She listened to the thump of wooden barrier planks being dragged across the pavers, the clink of clay jars being packed or unpacked at Mina’s supply bench. The squeak of an iron pulley ring being lashed to the northern low roof wall.
