Sect Year 3 · second month · day 19 · Azure Stream Sect, the east gate
The Qingliu road had turned into a long brown ditch that happened to be going somewhere. Every cart that came up from the flats cut ruts behind it, and the ruts filled with water before the wheels were clear. By the middle of the morning the stones at the foot of the slope showed only at their tops, like the backs of animals wading.
Lin stood in the gatehouse doorway with his right hand on the frame and watched the light move in the water. The air smelled of wet earth and of cookhouse smoke. The chimney had been drawing since the first bell, and nobody had thought to let the fire go out.
Pei stood at his side with the notebook tucked under one arm. She had been counting the handcarts on the wall ramp since the cookhouse smoke first rose, and she kept the tally on the inside cover in a column of small upright strokes.
“Eleven,” she said. “Twelve, if you count the one that’s only a board on two wheels.”
“I count it.”
“Of course you do.” She turned a page without looking up. “You’d count the fence posts if anyone let you near them.”
