Chapter 71: The City Below
The Crescent stayed open until the ninth bell on weekdays and midnight on the seventh day of the week. We went on the fifth day, after the evening meal, the three of us plus Sylph in whatever form she occupied when present without being visible.
The main street ran in the curve the name implied. Market stalls on both sides through the first third, then service buildings and specialty shops, then at the far end a cluster of older establishments that had stopped justifying their presence by merit and were simply there by persistence.
Anastasia’s attention covered everything without appearing to settle on any specific point.
"The mana-light system is different from the campus," she said.
"Separate district," Tessira said. "The academy does not maintain it. Individual fixtures, occupancy-activated."
"More efficient."
"Higher installation cost. Fewer single points of failure on campus."
Anastasia looked at the nearest fixture.
"Both arguments are valid," she said. "I withdraw the efficiency claim."
"Yes," Tessira said.
I kept pace behind them.
The confectionery two stalls in had a small star on Tessira’s annotated map. Anastasia stopped in front of it, asked the vendor the difference between two similar items, received a full explanation, asked three follow-up questions, and bought both.
She ate them in sequence on the street outside.
"The preparation method affects the texture," she said. "Not the flavor. The second one changes while you eat it. The first is complete at the first bite."
"Which do you prefer," Tessira said.
"The second. More things happen."
She finished it.
"I would like to try everything on this street," she said.
"Forty-three items," Tessira said.
"Forty-one. I have established shellfish."
Tessira looked at me.
"Over time," I said.
"Obviously over time," Anastasia said. She looked at the next stall. "Though we do have until the ninth bell."
The bookshop was at the far end of the curve, in one of the older buildings, its sign written in a font that had not been fashionable for at least two decades.
Iris was inside.
She was near the window, reading something she had not yet taken to the counter, which meant she was deciding whether it was worth buying. Her coat was on the chair beside her. She had been there a while.
She looked up when we came in.
She looked back at the page.
Tessira went to the display near the entrance. Anastasia went directly to the historical section.
I stopped at the shelves near the middle.
After a minute Iris set her book down and came to where I was standing.
"The mana lake readings," she said. Quiet, no preamble.
I looked at her.
"I was in the administration building this afternoon," she said. "For something else. The corridor outside the monitoring division has a board where they post environmental alerts. There was a flag on the lake readings for the past four days."
"Yes," I said.
"You know about it."
"Yes."
She looked at the shelf between us.
"The assessment is tomorrow," she said.
"Yes."
She picked up a book she did not appear to actually want and held it.
"Hiratsuka," she said.
"I told her," I said. "She said she would handle it."
Iris was quiet.
"Then we go into the assessment," she said, "knowing something is wrong with the lake, and the person responsible for this class has told you she will handle it."
"Yes."
She put the book back.
"Alright," she said, and returned to her window seat and her original volume.
Tessira appeared at my shoulder.
"Did she know," Tessira said, keeping her voice down.
"She found it herself," I said.
Tessira looked at the window seat where Iris was reading.
"Before or after you," she said.
"Possibly at the same time," I said.
Tessira went back to the entrance display.
Violet was in the historical section, adjacent to where Anastasia had gone.
She was pulling volumes and replacing them with the organized efficiency of someone who had done preliminary research and was now confirming specific details. She did not look up when Anastasia stopped beside her.
Anastasia pulled a volume. Read the preface.
"This is wrong," she said, to the shelf.
Violet looked at her.
Anastasia held up the volume.
"The author attributes the daemon taxonomy reform to the Commission of Year 311. The classification was established two decades earlier by a southern practitioner the Commission omitted from the record. The Commission standardized the taxonomy. They did not create it."
"How do you know that," Violet said.
"I was present for both," Anastasia said, and pulled another volume.
Violet looked at her. Then at me. I did not offer anything useful.
Violet looked back at the shelf.
"Which section would have the accurate account," she said.
"None. The practitioner’s records have not been located. But the accurate version can be reconstructed from several partial sources if you understand the administrative incentives that shaped the Commission’s decisions."
"Could you write it down," Violet said.
Anastasia considered this.
"Probably. With sufficient motivation."
"What would constitute sufficient motivation."
"The fourth floor archive. I have been up once. The card system resets weekly."
"I know the head of the assessment division," Violet said. "Extended access, in exchange for written corrections on three volumes of your choosing."
"Four volumes."
"Three. Extended access is not indefinite."
"Three volumes and a letter to the research division’s secondary archive."
Violet held this.
"Agreed," she said.
They shook hands.
Tessira arrived at my shoulder.
"Did they just negotiate," she said.
"Yes," I said.
"Successfully."
"Apparently."
She looked at the shelf where both of them were now reading.
"Alright," she said, and went back to her book.
Iris bought her original volume on the way out, which meant she had decided it was worth it after all. She passed our group without stopping. The bell above the door rang once and she was gone.
***
[New World Quest]
[Countdown: 00:00:00]
[ERROR: No Quest Found.]
[Emergency Quest Generated]
[Save the Two Sisters Beyond the Horizon]
Difficulty: Unknown
Reward: ???
Failure: ???
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