Chapter 26: Edric Snowmantle Goes North Again

Edric Snowmantle came to the archive at the second hour after midnight.

Mara heard his knock before she heard his footsteps, which meant he had been standing outside the door for some time before committing to it. She recognized this as a man who had rehearsed the conversation and was not yet satisfied with his preparation. She called him in without putting down her pen.

He came through the door carrying the hand-drawn maps — not the originals, which were filed under his name in Aldric's administrative case, but copies he had made himself on salvaged parchment during the quarantine weeks, when the council was otherwise occupied and he had nothing to do but wait to be believed. She noted the difference. He set them on the worktable without asking permission and then stood with his hands at his sides in the particular way of a man who has spent years carrying either a sword or a torch and has not yet invented an alternative posture for civilian rooms.