Sect Year 5 · third month · day 5 · Sarn quay, Verren
The Registry boat came in on the morning tide with its pennant hanging wet from the masthead. Lin watched it from the quay steps while the gulls lifted off the wooden support posts in a grey cloud and settled again farther down. The sun had not cleared the cliffs behind the town yet, and the harbour smelled of tar and of the fish the boats had landed before dawn. The boat rode high. Its hold was empty, and the crew moved along the rail the way people move when they have been told to be quick and have not yet been told why.
A thin man in grey oilskin came down the gangway first. A leather satchel was chained to his wrist, and the chain knocked against the planks at every step. At the foot of the gangway he stopped and looked along the quay, as though the faces there were a list he had been handed and had not yet checked against the names.
“Who sat at the Loom’s knots?” he said. “The Registry copy says the witness is a man called Cang.”
“I’m Cang,” Lin said.
