Location:Kaelport — The Arsenal Yard, then Li Shenwei's Cutting Shed
Date/Time:10 Flamefade 9943 AZI, Quenchday, first bell to noon
Realm:Lower Realm
Feng Lian's knuckle went against the casing of the twelfth lance on the third rack, one knock, not hard, and the sound it made was the sound it always made: a short dull note with nothing ringing in it. On down the row, his lips moving. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, in the voice he used for counting, which was not loud and did not need to be, because there was nobody in the long shed at first bell but him and the cold and the lances.
Twenty-four. Knock.
