Location: Kaelport — the long shed, and the Lower School yard above it
Date: 5 Emberwane 9943 AZI, Grindday, mid-morning to late afternoon
Realm: Lower Realm
Old men with bad knees didn't run.
Meifen saw him from the long-shed window before she knew him. A shape on the school road, coming down between the last of the late carts, going at a lurch, one leg doing the work and the other dragged along for the company. Then she saw the gray scarf he'd worn every morning since Emberrise, whatever the weather did, and she was on her feet with the fodder slate still in her hand.
The paper from Hammerday was where it had been for three days, square to the edge of her trestle. Page seven. Nobody had moved it. She'd stopped seeing it somewhere around Temperday, and it made her angry every time she noticed she'd stopped.
She met him at the foot of the stair. He had both hands on his knees, and his face had gone the color of whey.
"Sit down."
