Nessa entered Account Five with Lenn Cor's cloth tied around her left wrist.
The knot slid when her shortened ring finger caught it. She stopped inside the gate, trapped the loose end between her teeth, and pulled until Lenn's name faced outward again. Vask could read the person he had entered as quarry stone before they discussed price.
The lower dock hung beneath the council chamber on four black plates. Each plate chose the fixed street above as down, though open water pipes and tool cords pulled toward the other roadback.
Vask waited behind a worktable instead of a speaking tube.
He had a narrow face, shaved scalp, and one ear folded beneath a metal cap. Nessa gave the cap more attention than the face. Five wires left it and entered the table through holes spaced like fingers.
