Ujjayini, 1180 CE
The temporary storage lists were kept in a room that smelled of damp wood and old paper.
Eshaan found this out the following morning, after Somapala assigned two clerks to help him search the records associated with the second reorganisation. The room stood beyond the main archive, near a service passage used by the palace staff. It was not entirely neglected, but neither was it treated with the care given to the inner collections. Bundles had been stacked on wooden shelves according to their approximate dates, and several boxes held loose palm leaves that had never been properly catalogued.
"This is everything we have from that period," said Govardhana, who had accompanied him. "At least, everything that has been identified as belonging to the temporary storage records."
Eshaan looked at the shelves. "How many bundles?"
"Forty-three."
"And how many have been examined?"
