Sect Year 5 · eleventh month · day 28 · the stair from the Glass Shelf to the Hanging Reaches
The stone post stood below the gate with the first grey light behind it. Someone had cut a notch into its face for every step of the stair. The notches ran down the post and out across the rock like the marks a child makes on a doorframe to show how tall it has grown. Lin stood at the foot and looked up. He couldn’t see the top. The steps went into a haze the colour of wet ash and did not come out of it.
Pei stood beside him with her book under one arm and her pencil behind her ear. She didn’t wait for him to move. “One,” she said, and set her foot on the first notch.
The sleet had stopped in the night and left the rock slick and dark. Each step had been cut square, with a tally scratched into its edge, one stroke for each step. Lin put his right hand on the iron rail and his left hand near it. The left hand closed on the cold metal only partway, and the rail rolled against the heel of his palm, and he let it.
