Sect Year 1 · tenth month · day 2 · Azure Stream Sect, east gate
The dawn bell began before the sun had cleared the ridge. Lin was already on the path below the Inner Court when the first stroke came down through the cedars. He stopped, because he had decided the night before that he would count them, and it was easier to count standing still.
“One,” he said aloud.
The second stroke came. “Two.”
The path ran downhill between the trees in a long grey curve. He had walked it a hundred times. Carrying water for the Elders’ kitchen, carrying the Outer Court’s letters up the ridge, carrying nothing at all on the mornings when he had been sent down with a message nobody wanted. Behind him the Inner Court’s roofs stood out of the mist one after another, each with its water-jar on the roof edge. Ahead, the valley was still mostly cloud. He hadn’t expected the first step to feel so light. He set his foot on the wet stone and his chest did not catch. He breathed, and the breath went all the way down and came back up without argument. He put it down to sleep. It seemed the most sensible explanation a man could give himself at dawn.
