Sect Year 9 · fourth month · day 5, dusk · Azure Stream Sect, the terraced path going up from the foot of the mountain
The rain had gone off east over the valley and left the air washed. By the time they had left the Lower Market behind them, the sky above the terraces had turned the colour of weak tea. The lamps were coming on along the lower steps, one and then another, as if a man were walking the row with a taper and had all the time in the world. The sacking with the pins in it was tucked inside Lin’s coat against his ribs, and it knocked against him at every step. Pei carried the basket. It was lighter now. It held a loaf from the Lower Market and a twist of salt that she hadn’t let him carry.
Behind them the forge shop’s door was a red square at the foot of the hill, and the coals still glowed in it. Gao Wen had gone up the road before them, slowly, on his leg. By now he would be at the wicket, saying nothing about the pin.
They climbed in silence. The steps were cut into the hillside in the old way, each one a flat stone set on its edge, and by the sixth or seventh terrace Lin’s knees had begun to speak to him again. He didn’t stop. Pei did not look back to see whether he would stop, and he thought…
