Sect Year 9 · third month · day 26, dusk · Azure Stream Sect, the Council hall steps
Lin had come to the Council hall to leave a tally on the clerk’s table, and when he came out again into the court Jiang was sitting on the top step. She had the small black book open on her knee and her grey cloak folded over the iron rail beside her. The cloak was dark at the hem with dust. Her boots were wet to the ankle, and there was red clay on one heel, which told him she had been up the terraced path that day and had come down it slowly.
The Council hall stood at the head of the court, its steps worn hollow in the middle by years of elders and petitioners. Lin had sat inside its doors for the writ in the autumn, with the Sect Master at the head of the long table. He had never once sat on its steps.
She didn’t look round at once. She finished the line she was writing, then closed the book on her pencil to keep the place, and moved down one step to make room. Lin came up the steps and sat beside her. The stone was still warm on its upper edge from the day’s sun, and cold beneath.
