Chapter 62
Breakfast was barely finished when dread showed up in the form of three letters.
The first was little more than paper folded in the Tianxi manner, unfolding from left to right along with the reader’s eye. No seal, no symbol, not so much as a sender’s name. The Yellow Earth sent their summons, Song thought. Besides them, almost ironically, sat a small letter the messenger had waited in the courtyard of Black House to hand her directly. It was sealed in russet wax, a signet ring pressed into it shallowly. House Palliades’ heraldry, a crowned owl clutching a shepherd’s crook.
It was not the Lord Rector’s seal that had been used there but the personal signet ring of Evander Palliades, the implication licking at her cheeks with heat: this was private correspondence. A letter from Evander, not the Lord Rector.
The last of the three letters bore the black wax stamp of official Watch correspondence. That at least Song made herself crack open and read. Her solemn face soon turned into a grimace as not even work proved to be a respite: the letter was from Colonel Adamos of Stheno’s Peak, who sternly wrote never to put to ink any mention of the aether seal ever again. She was to burn this letter when done reading it. Moreover, the Thirteenth Brigade must remain in Tratheke until the garrison officer he was sending to the capital finished debriefing them.
A tossed off sentence at the end conceded, reluctantly, that since the Thirteenth Brigade was on a formal contract both her inquiries as to the god behind the Ataxia and Maryam Khaimov’s ‘disturbing observations on the matter of Asphodel crowns’ would be answered by the Savant officer he was sending south. Colonel Adamos even deigned to mark the dates involved, which…
He mentioned sending this letter around the island by ship and that ‘Captain Traore’ would be arriving a week after the letter, but his Savant’s theorized date of arrival was around the seventh of the month – in other words, yesterday. The letter appeared to be over a week late. Odd. This was an important discrepancy to uncover, crucial even, so Song tucked away the letter in her uniform and straightened her collar. She was not putting off reading the other letters, she was doing important work that required her full attention.
Song locked the door behind her and left as quick as she could make her stride long without feeling like she was running.
Correspondence was handled by the servants of Black House, but there were nuances at play. While notable figures could send letters directly to the Watch residence in the city, most of the correspondence that reached Black House actually passed through three stations in the city that servants went to empty every day. Angharad, whose identity must remain secret among Tratheke society, received her own letters through an arrangement with the rector’s palace.
Letter intended for her were sent to Fort Archelean, the fortress at the bottom of the lifts leading up to the palace, and from there Palliades men carried them to one of the Watch stations in the city. Song’s first thought had been that the whole affair would look wildly suspicious, but apparently it was common for minor nobles in the capital to make similar arrangements – only their letters were instead brought by Palliades men to the temples of Khrusopos, the messenger god of Asphodel.