Sect Year 1 · eighth month · day 18 · Azure Stream Sect, Inner Court
Su unwrapped the second ledger on the cave table one fold at a time. The oilcloth had held the damp in, and when she peeled back the last layer the air took on the smell of wet boards and cold green stone, the smell of a floor that had lain over running water for years. She set the book beside the lamp and did not open it. She laid both hands flat on the table on either side of it and waited, as she waited before she checked a count.
“You carried it up the ridge inside your coat,” Lin said.
“As far as the gate. After that I carried it in my hands, because the coat was warm and the book was worth more than the coat.” She turned the lamp up a notch. “I considered both.”
There was no fire in the cave. The fire bowl at the foot of the cot held the same grey ash it had held for weeks, and Lin had stopped trying to light it. He sat on the edge of the cot with his hands between his knees, and his breath showed faintly in the lamplight. The cold came up through the stone floor and into his shins. The left arm was cold as well, from the wrist to the elbow, and it stayed where it was. He let it.
