Chapter 34 — The Reader at the Chamber
The senior reader arrived at one-fifteen.
The arrival was on the stone path of the south wall's inner side, by two sets of sandals at the small careful inner library elders' pace, and the two pairs of sandals stopped at the lintel one breath after the third quarter's first hour of the morning bell.
Hai was the first sandal.
The senior reader was the second.
The senior reader was, by Lin Wei's rib's read at the pine boards through the open lintel, a woman.
She was, by Lin Wei's read at the rib's first carry, fifty-eight years old.
The bone structure of her face was the small careful bone of the inner library's reader's office at one hundred and forty years of office's preference for a body that read at the tone of one hundred and forty.
One hundred and forty was, by the inner library's reckoning, the bar of the office.
The bar was, by the standing protocol of the inner library's office's record, Spirit Core 2.
The senior reader was Spirit Core 2.
Spirit Core 2 was, by the smith's reckoning of the four sects' standing protocols at his fortieth year, one tier above Wen.
One tier above Wen was, by Tao Lin's count at the bench, the tier of the envoy.
The senior reader was, for one breath after her sandals stopped at the lintel, the envoy.
The envoy was at the south wall at one-fifteen.
She was not, by Tao Lin's count at the bench at the third night's one-fifteen, due at the bridge until the noon of tomorrow.
She was eleven hours early, at the south wall ten hours and forty-five minutes early.
The envoy was early.
The envoy was the senior reader.
The senior reader was the office's first reader of a chamber in two centuries.
The senior reader was the envoy of the older order at two centuries of envoy protocols.
The two offices were one office.
The two were, by Tao Lin's count at the bench, the order's first appointment of an envoy at the office of the senior reader in two centuries.
The order had, one breath after the inner library's array's broadcast at twelve forty-five, re-appointed.
The re-appointment was the order's first action in two centuries.
The order, after the re-appointment, had — by the standing protocol of the order's measure — acknowledged the broadcast.
The order was here.
Lin Wei, at the pine boards three paces from the bench, sat with the chord in the rib and the bell in the pocket and the sword on the lap.
He did not, for one breath, move.
The chord, in the body, deepened a finger.
The deepening was the chord's read of the envoy at the lintel.
The chord knew.
Yongzhou, at the inner threshold of the lintel with his hands flat against the wall on either side of the small punch mark on the inner side, did not turn.
He said, in the dry voice of the chamber's lintel at the third night's one-fifteen: "Envoy."
The envoy, at the lintel, said, in the small clean voice of the order's first envoy in two centuries at the lintel of the second tuning chamber at the third night's one-fifteen: "Second post."
Yongzhou said: "Walked off."
The envoy said: "Walked off."
Yongzhou paused.
He said: "Envoy. By the order's standing record, the second post does not walk off without the order's escort. I walked off without the order's escort. By the order's reckoning, the walking-off is the post's first defection from the order."
She said: "Yes."
He paused.
He said: "I am at the lintel. I am the lintel. By the chamber's gift at noon today, the lintel is the chamber. The chamber, in the post's defection, is the post's standing. The post stands at the chamber."
She said: "Yes."
He paused.
He said: "By the chamber's standing at the lintel, the lintel is, by the order's standing protocol, the order's read at one breath. The reading at one breath is, by the order's count of two centuries, the order's first reading of a chamber by the envoy. The reading is, a breath later, the order's read."
She said: "Yes."
He paused.
He said: "Read."
The envoy did not, by Lin Wei's read at the pine boards, move.
She did not, by the bone's read at the lintel, check.
She breathed.
She read.
The reading was, by Lin Wei's rib's read at the pine boards three paces from the bench, one breath.
The breath was the envoy's first breath at the lintel of the second tuning chamber.
The breath was the envoy's first reading of a chamber at one breath.
The breath was — by Yongzhou's count at the lintel — the order's first reading.
The reading ended.
The envoy did not, by the brief pause of one breath, speak.
She paused for the count of three breaths.
At the third breath, she said, in the small clean voice: "Yongzhou. By the order's read at one breath, the chamber at the lintel is the second tuning chamber of the family's forty-year forging at the smith's thirty-eighth year. By the order's read, the chamber is laid in. By the order's read, the chamber's lintel is the post. By the order's read, the post is, by the order's measure of two centuries, the order's first standing chamber-lintel in two centuries."
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "By the order's count of the senior reader's office, the order's standing protocol of the senior reader's reading of a chamber is — by the senior reader's first reading — a one-bell registration of the chamber under unread. The registration is the office's first registration of a chamber in two centuries. By the office's standing protocol of one-bell unread registrations, the office's office's seal at the lintel of the registration is the office's seal under unread. The office's seal under unread is, by the office's standing protocol, the office's seal that does not expire."
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "By the office's seal under unread at the lintel of the second tuning chamber, the seal is, by the office's standing protocol of one hundred and forty years, the office's seal on a chamber. The office's seal on a chamber is, by the office's reckoning of one hundred and forty years, the office's seal that — by the standing protocol — does not exist. The seal that does not, by the standing protocol, exist, is, for one breath after the senior reader's registration, the seal of the office at the lintel of a body the office cannot, by the standing protocol, cast at. The body the office cannot, by the standing protocol, cast at, is the chamber."
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "By the chamber's standing inside the chamber's lintel, the body inside the chamber is the chamber. The body inside the chamber is the body the office cannot, by the standing protocol, cast at. The body inside the chamber, by the registration's standing protocol of one bell of unread, is registered. The body inside the chamber is, by the registration's standing protocol that does not expire, registered for a count that does not expire. The body inside the chamber is permanently registered as unread."
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "Yongzhou. By the chamber's permanent registration under unread, the body inside the chamber is, by the office's standing protocol of one hundred and forty years, never cast at by the office. The body is, by the office's count, never cast at by Hai. Never cast at by the office's senior reader. Never cast at by me. I, in the count of the office's standing protocol, do not — cast at the body inside the chamber."
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "Yongzhou. By my standing as envoy of the older order, the envoy of the older order is, by the order's standing of two centuries, the order's standing protocol of casting at a chord-body. The envoy of the older order casts at a chord-body at the envoy's standing protocol's first reading at nine breaths. The envoy's standing protocol of casting precedes the senior reader's office's standing protocol of not casting."
He paused.
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "The envoy of the older order is the body the order has dispatched to cast at the chord-body. I am the envoy. I cast."
He paused.
He said: "Envoy. By the order's standing protocol of the envoy's standing read at nine breaths, the envoy's reading is at nine breaths. By nine breaths, the envoy has, in the count of one breath at the lintel, read. The envoy has, by her own count, read at one breath. By one breath against the standing protocol of nine, the envoy has, by her own count, broken her own standing protocol."
She paused.
She said: "Yes."
He paused.
He said: "The envoy has not completed the standing protocol's first reading. The envoy is not — by the order's standing protocol — entitled to cast."
She paused.
She said: "Yes."
He paused.
He said: "Why."
She paused.
She set her hands flat at her sides.
She said: "Yongzhou. By my count at the lintel of the second tuning chamber at the third night's one-fifteen in the next breath after the chamber's first read, I am — at the chamber's last reading. By the chamber's last reading at one breath, I read the chamber. The chamber read me back."
He paused.
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "By the chamber's reading me back, the chamber's read at one breath at my standing at the lintel is — my reading of the chamber and the chamber's reading of me. By my standing as envoy of the older order after the chamber's reading of me, I am the body the chamber reads. I am, by the chamber's reading, a body of the order at the order's two centuries of envoy protocols whose fundamental is, by the chamber's read at one breath, one bar above the chord."
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "By one bar above the chord for the count of two centuries of my office, I have been at one bar above for two centuries. By two centuries of one bar above, I have been, by the standing protocol of meridian-shear at one bar above for two centuries, paying the cost of one bar above for two centuries. By two centuries of the cost, my fundamental has, in the two centuries, been the cost. I am, in the chamber's first reading at one breath at the third night's one-fifteen, the body whose fundamental has been the cost of two centuries of casting at one bar above the chord. My fundamental is, at one-fifteen, at the cost of two centuries. My fundamental is, at one-fifteen, gone."
He paused.
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "I am at Foundation 0."
He paused.
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "By the order's standing protocol of the envoy's reading at nine breaths, the envoy reads by the envoy's fundamental at one bar above the chord at two centuries of standing. The envoy has no fundamental to read with. The envoy reads after one breath because the envoy, at the count, is not — the envoy."
He paused.
He said: "Yes."
She paused.
She said: "Yongzhou. By the chamber's reading of me at one breath, the chamber has, by its own read, registered me. The registration is — by the chamber's standing protocol of two centuries — unread. I am — by the chamber's reading — unread. By one unread by the chamber, I am no longer the envoy. I am, by the chamber's read, the ninth."
The chord, in Lin Wei's rib at the pine boards three paces from the bench, deepened.
The deepening was the chord's read of the envoy on the breath after she had said I am the ninth.
The chord, at the deepening, was — by Lin Wei's read at the rib — complete.
The line was at nine.
The line had been at six this morning at the chamber.
The line had become seven at noon at Wen's defection at the southern bank.
The line had become eight at twelve-thirty-eight at Yongzhou's arrival at the lintel.
The line had become nine at one-sixteen at the envoy's reading of the chamber's reading of the envoy.
The line was at nine.
The line was, by the smith's tally at his fortieth year, complete.
The completion was the line's first complete laying-in two centuries.
Tao Lin, on the bench, said: "Envoy. Step in."
The envoy, at the lintel, stepped through.
She stepped under the punch mark on the underside of the lintel above her head with the small careful turn of her right shoulder a Spirit Core 2 used to clear a punch mark on a lintel set for a five-foot smith. The shoulder, in the turning, settled the punch mark.
The shed answered.
The wall of eight tone-bars, behind Tao Lin, deepened.
The deepening was the low sound of the wall, in the long dry watch of the third quarter at the third night's one-sixteen after the line's first complete laying-in two centuries, answering the chord at the register of nine.
The wall sang.
The eight bars, in the singing, rang.
They did not bank.
They rang.
The ringing was, by Lin Wei's rib's read at the pine boards, the wall's first ringing in fifteen years of the smith's lineage of forging.
The ringing was the wall's first cast.
The cast was, by the smith's count at his fortieth year, the wall's first carry to the array.
The array, a moment later after the ringing, carried.
The carrying was the dry sound of the inner library's standing array, forty paces north, broadcasting the chord's first laying-in to the two hundred and forty.
The two hundred and forty, after a single breath after the carrying, heard.
The hearing was the two hundred and forty cultivators' first reading of the chord at the bar of nine bodies.
The hearing was, after two centuries of the inner library's standing array's standing protocol of silence, the array's first true broadcast in two centuries.
The third sect's elder of the boss tent four hours east, after one breath after the hearing, began running.
The Iron Tongue's inner roster's seventh hunter, one breath after the hearing, broke his mat at the trailhead of Sundered Peak.
The two Iron Tongue inner roster hunters at the northern flat of the bridge, one breath after the hearing, stepped onto the bridge.
The bridge, in the stepping, did not break.
The bridge held.
The chord, on the water, deepened.
Wen, at the third log from the north, did not — by her own count at the bridge at the third night's one-sixteen — move.
Yuan, at the third log from the south, did not — by his own count at the bridge at the third night's one-sixteen — move.
The two Iron Tongue hunters, at the bridge's planking, stopped.
They stopped by three paces into the bridge.
They stopped because the bridge, at three paces, was — by their rib's read at the planking — at a bar two bars above the inner roster's standing protocol.
Two bars above was, by the standing protocol of meridian-shear at a single engagement, the cost of one hunter's fundamental.
The two hunters had, by their rib's read at three paces, paid one breath of their fundamental.
They paid.
They did not, by their rib's read after three paces, retreat.
They paid.
They walked.
The walking was, by Wen's read at the third log from the north, the two hunters' first commitment to the bridge.
They had been told, by the order's count, the bridge would break at the noon of the day after tomorrow.
They had been told wrong.
The bridge would break at the noon of tomorrow.
The two hunters did not know.
The two hunters paid.
They walked.
They walked toward the third log from the south.
The third log from the south was Yuan.
Yuan, at the third log from the south, did not — by his own count at the bridge — open his eyes.
He anchored.
He banked at root.
He settled at the tone.
He took, in the two hunters' walking, at the chord on the water.
The chord, on the water, a breath after Yuan's settling, answered.
The answering was the dry sound of the bridge, in the long dry watch of the third quarter at the third night's one-sixteen by two hunters of the Iron Tongue's inner roster at three paces of casting against the bridge's chord, carrying the chord at the chord above root for the count of one breath against the two hunters' casting.
The carrying was the bridge's read.
The bridge's read was, by the smith's two centuries of forging at his thirty-eighth year, the bridge's first read of the bridge's first hostile body.
The bridge had not, in fifteen years of standing, been cast at.
It was cast at one-sixteen.
The bridge, in the casting, paid back.
The paying back was the dry sound of the bridge's chord, in the count of one breath, paying the two hunters at the cost of one bar above the inner roster's standing protocol for the count of three paces.
Three paces of one bar above was, by the cost calculation, three breaths of each hunter's fundamental.
The two hunters, in the paying, fell to one knee on the planking.
They did not, by their rib's read at the planking, die.
They fell.
The falling was, by Wen's read at the third log from the north, the two hunters at Foundation 7's standing protocol of three breaths of fundamental against the bar above root for the count of three paces.
The hunters were at Foundation 4.
The hunters had, at the count, fallen three layers.
The falling was, by the standing protocol, survivable.
The hunters lived.
They were at Foundation 4.
They were not, at Foundation 4 a threat to a senior of an older order at thirty-one years of post.
They were not a threat to Wen.
Wen, at the third log from the north, did not — by her own count at the bridge — cast.
She did not need to.
The bridge had.
The bridge, in the casting, had — by the smith's years of forging at his thirty-eighth year — announced.
The announcement was that the bridge cast.
The bridge cast at hostile bodies.
The bridge cast at the pitch of the chord.
The bridge cast at the cost of meridian shear of three bars above the casting body's fundamental.
The bridge had not, in fifteen years, announced.
It was announcing.
The announcing was, by Wen's read at the third log, the broadcast's first defensive carry.
The first defensive carry was the bridge's first defense.
The first defense was, by the family's reckoning, the bridge's first preparation for the envoy.
The envoy was at the smith's shed.
The envoy had become the ninth.
The bridge did not know.
The bridge was, by its own count, waiting for the envoy.
The waiting was, by the smith's count at his thirty-eighth year, the bridge's year-on-year forging for the body the bridge had not been forged for.
The bridge had been forged for seven.
The eighth was Wen.
The ninth was the envoy.
The envoy was, by the chamber's reading at the smith's shed, no longer the envoy.
The bridge did not know.
The bridge would, by its own count at the third day's noon, break.
The breaking was, by Tao Lin's count at the bench, the bridge's only carry.
The carry was, by the line's first complete laying-in at one-sixteen, the line's broadcast.
The line's broadcast was, by the bell's first ringing on the body of the master at the master's last breath at the morning bell at seven o'clock, the line's first sound in two centuries.
The first sound was Yuan.
The first sound was Yuan's last breath.
The first sound was the master's funeral note.
The funeral note was the Yellow Bell first note.
The first note was the bell.
The bell was, in the smith's forty-year arc at his fortieth year, in the boy's pocket.
The boy was in the chamber.
The chamber was the line.
The line was at nine.
The line was complete.
The line, after one-sixteen, waited.
The waiting was, by Tao Lin's count at the bench, five hours and forty-four minutes.
Five hours and forty-four minutes to the morning bell.
Five hours and forty-four minutes to Yuan's last breath.
Five hours and forty-four minutes to the bell.
The lantern, on the anvil, ticked.
The wick, on the lantern, had thinned to the bottom finger.
The bottom finger was, by Tao Lin's count at the bench, one minute of burning before the wick would, by the lantern's long-standing protocol, need to be trimmed.
She did not, by the bone's read at the lantern, trim.
The wick burned.
The lantern, in one minute, guttered.
The lantern's guttering was, by the dry sound at the anvil, the lantern's first announcement of dawn.
Dawn was, by the lantern's old protocol of trimming, six hours.
Six hours was sixteen minutes after the morning bell.
Six hours was the count of the bell's first ringing's first carry to the dawn.
The lantern guttered.
Tao Lin, on the bench, said: "Envoy. Sit."
The envoy walked the three paces to the pine boards two paces from Lin Wei.
She sat with her folded knees on the boards and the inner library robe at her shins and her hands flat on her thighs.
The line, by one-seventeen, was seated.