Sect Year 3 · second month · day 16 · Azure Stream Sect, the east wall walk at first light
The new course of the east wall was still pale where the masons had laid it. Lin climbed the stair with his right hand on the rail, and the stone under his boots was rougher than the old course, the mortar soft at the joints and sharp with the smell of lime.
Someone had scored the top of each block with a chisel so the next layer would bite. At the head of the stair he stopped and looked along the walk toward the gatehouse, and then the other way. There, the Qingliu road ran pale across the flats and the first grey light lay on the fords.
The outer students came up behind him one at a time, and nobody spoke until the last of them had reached the top. There were eleven new students from the yard, the freckled one with the torn sleeve among them, and four of the outer students from Su’s list. Ho Tan carried a spear the way a man carries a bowl he has been told is full.
Xue Mian went along the low roof wall with one hand on the stone, touching it now and then, checking it as she checked the knots in a rope. Feng Dacheng came up behind her with his hands in his sleeves, the one with no fear of the wall. Mai Liyan came last. She stood…
