By evening, Ashfall had turned the furnace rescue into a story. One worker said Yan had lifted the roof. Another claimed he had called down an ancestor’s strength. The people who had been in the hall described a beam held above an apprentice until she crawled free.
Ning found him in the infirmary yard with a bowl of broth in each hand. She carried a basket of rice and fruit from the workers’ kitchen.
“You’re eating again,” she said.
“The first bowl was small.”
“The first bowl was deep enough to hold a dumpling.”
“I had broth. This is dinner.” Yan nodded toward the bench. “Sit before you start counting.”
She set the basket down and looked at the dressing on his wrist. “Does the burn hurt?”
“Yes.”
He held out his arm. Ning inspected the clean wrap without touching it. The dressing covered the ash burn, and the bandage across his back showed beneath the loose shirt. A strip on his cheek marked the shallow cut. His shoulder still ached, but he could move it carefully.
“Qinghe treated all of that?”
“She did. The wrist and back need another check tomorrow.”
“And the techniques?”
Yan lowered the bowl. The workers nearby were talking over the meal, but no one had moved close enough to hear. “Blood Ignition returned life and vigor when its own method cost me lifespan. Ashen Marrow made my bones stronger. I felt both effects when I lifted the beam.”
Ning nodded. She already knew about the Bizarre System and the changes it had made to Yan’s cultivation. “But the furnace still burned you.”
“It did.”
“Good. I mean, good that you know the difference.”
“I know it hurts.”
“Then don’t pretend it didn’t.”
He shifted his bowl away from the edge. “I’m not pretending. I’m hungry.”
Ning smiled and handed him a rice cake. “Eat slowly. You’ll spill broth on the clean bandage.”
Yan moved the bowl with care. “I can lift a beam, but you think I can’t handle soup.”
“I think you can handle soup when you’re not showing off.”
Bai arrived with the supper count from Steward Lu. “The rescue crew gets rice, broth, greens, and fruit. The steward has written down the number of bowls.”
“Any courier fee?”
“Invoice him,” Ning said.
“Good. I’ll add the cost of carrying the bowls.”
“You carried them from the kitchen.”
“Across an entire yard.” Bai set down a plate and took a stool. “That is a substantial distance.”
Qinghe came from the treatment room and checked the edge of Yan’s wrist bandage. “Clean. It can stay until morning.”
“Does that mean I can have more broth?” Yan asked.
“It means the dressing is clean.”
Ning served rice into the bowls. The four of them ate beneath the courtyard eaves while the apprentices gathered at a neighboring table. Lin wore a borrowed robe with one sleeve pinned at the shoulder. She had a shallow scrape on her elbow from crawling beneath the shelf. Qinghe had checked it and told her to keep it clean.
The girl came over with a piece of sweet fruit. “I wanted to give you this,” she told Yan. “You pulled the shelf up.”
“Bai pulled you through.”
“He did.” She held the fruit out anyway. “So I brought enough for both.”
Bai accepted the other half. “That is thoughtful. I can be thanked in fruit.”
Lin smiled. “I’m staying away from Furnace Two for a while.”
“You may want to tell the steward that,” Ning said. “He’ll need to move the shift list.”
“I’ll tell him after my elbow stops aching.”
“Then you can choose a different assignment,” Qinghe said. “The infirmary needs someone to sort clean cloth. Only if you want the work.”
Lin looked at her torn sleeve. “I’ll think about it.”
Bai leaned toward Yan. “The market has less dangerous jobs. I told her about a stall that needs a helper.”
“You told her before asking whether she wanted the infirmary,” Qinghe said.
“I’m offering choices.”
“Then let her choose.”
“I am.” Bai lifted both hands. “The market is an option, not a summons.”
Lin said she would consider both after a night’s sleep. She returned to her table with the fruit. The apprentices talked about the beam and who had reached the arch first. Their voices were quieter than before, but they were laughing.
Ning asked Yan whether he had felt afraid beneath the beam.
“I was thinking about the gap and the load. When Lin froze, I had time for one plan.”
“That isn’t the same as not being afraid.”
“No. I was afraid the beam would shift before she got through.” He tasted the broth. “I was also certain I could lift it.”
Qinghe poured tea. “Confidence in your strength helped. It didn’t make the beam harmless.”
“I know that too.”
The meal warmed him. His body still felt full of life after Blood Ignition, and his appetite was larger than usual, but the heat burn pulled every time he leaned back. He kept his shoulders forward and ate without rushing.
Ning passed him the fruit bowl. “You can be glad everyone came out alive and still admit the day hurt.”
“I have admitted the burn.”
“You said it hurt. That’s enough for tonight.”
A runner from Zhao’s examination office arrived with a folded message. It asked Yan to report in the morning. The note did not say why. Yan read it, then folded it and set it beside Ning’s treatment plan.
“Does that mean they’ll offer me a place?” Bai asked.
“It means they want to examine me.”
“An examination can lead to an offer.”
“It can also lead to more questions.”
Ning put the last piece of fruit in the basket. “You don’t have to decide tonight.”
“I know.” Yan finished the second bowl and looked toward the sealed Furnace Two doors. The damaged hall would stay closed. The people who had worked there were alive, and he had a summons in the morning. His back stung beneath its dressing. The rice and broth sat warm in his stomach. He was glad for all three facts.