Letter: Fern to her sister at Ambrook
Spring of 199. Fern, weaver, at Saltreach.
Dear Bet,
The herring came back. The whole harbor smells of them, and the cats have gone mad. I have never seen so many cats in one place. They sit on the harbor wall all day and watch the boats come in. The gulls are angry about it.
The loom hall is busy. Everyone wants new cloth for spring. I have three apprentices now, and they are all thumbs. One of them wound the blue wool backward and we had to cut it out. She cried. I told her I did the same at her age. I did not, but it helped.
Ama sent honey from Ambrook. Tell her thank you. The jar had a little bee in it, dead and dry. I kept it on the shelf. It looks like it is resting.
The weather is warm and the water is calm. Corin is building a new boat on the slip and he sings while he works. He cannot sing. The whole harbor knows it.
How is the mill pond? Is the wheel still squeaking? Tell Jory to grease it. He never greases it.
Write back when you can. Tell mother I am well and my hands are warm.
Your sister,
Fern
%%
Lights over the ice, the north line
Messages about the lights, in the order they came. Kept by Mira. Some towers wrote them plainly, and some did not write them at all, and that is also a message.
Northpoint to all towers, first bell: lights over the ice tonight, low in the north. Green, and moving slowly. Not stars. Not fires. Not ours.
Crow Hill to Northpoint: seen from here. Our children want to know what they are.
Northpoint to Crow Hill: tell them we do not know.
Stone Ring to Northpoint: seen. The shepherd says they are falling stars. He says this every time.
Lowmarsh to Northpoint: seen. Too far for us to say much. The mere is black, the reeds are pale, and the frogs have stopped.
Saltreach to Northpoint: seen. The fishers say falling stars, and they are not sure of it. Corin says nothing, and looks north.
Northpoint to Saltreach: thank you for looking.
Vell to Northpoint: Oren asks whether the lights should go in the copies. Write them down, Mira says, because that is what we do.
Vell to all towers: the Archive will keep the lights in the record, as with everything else. We have a shelf for them. The shelf is nearly empty.
Ambrook to Northpoint: seen. Ama says the bees went quiet at dusk, all at once, and then stopped being quiet.
Kettle Ridge to Northpoint: seen. Dace says the mayor's office has no interest in lights. Tam says the windmills are turning very slowly, and he cannot see why.
Northpoint to all towers: we keep the lamps lit, as usual. The lights do not seem to mind the lamps. They do not seem to mind anything.
Crow Hill to Northpoint, midnight: the children have gone to bed. Two of the keepers have not. Lights still there. Still green.
Northpoint to Crow Hill: keep your lamp lit. We are keeping ours.
%%
Letter: Nessa to Odo, on fewer marks
From Nessa, tutor at Vell, to Odo at Gullsby. Spring, 200. Copied for the archive by Oren, who says the letter was a good one and should be kept.
Odo.
Your question is a good one and I will answer it plainly. You are right to ask it.
When we write a mind's weights in fewer marks, we round each number a little. Your mother is right that a quarter off every plank is a real thing. But a mind is not a boat. A mind's numbers are many, and most of them only lean a little on any one answer. Round one and the mind still leans the right way. Round a thousand and the leaning adds up. So the cost is small at first and grows.
Where the cost shows is at the hard things. A mind that sorts apples and pears barely notices. A mind that reads a page and guesses the next letter notices more. The hard things are the ones that lean on many numbers at once, and those are the ones that lose the most.
So the answer is both. It loses a little off everything and more off the hard things.
On your other question: yes, the fewer mark minds are cheaper. A smaller crystal costs less to grow and less to keep cool. That is why a hamlet gets one for a wood store and not one for a harbor wall. The tutors' books say to write down the cost every time, so no one forgets why the small mind is small.
Tell your mother she asked a good question too.
Nessa.
%%
Relay message: Vell to Three Wells
Vell to Three Wells, fourth of Blossom, 204.
From Oren at the archive to Bel.
Bel, give the map back to Nessa first. Then we will talk about the cat.
There was a cat at the east well. Her name was Soot. She sat on the well and would not move for anyone. The children gave her fish. The mark on the map is her. The cartographer liked her.
Your essay on the wells came to the archive. It is good. You spelled cobblestone wrong twice.
Oren
%%
Relay log, Ambrook tower, spring 133
Kept by Rook, orchard keeper, when he sat the watch again, three springs after the picture. By now the tutors were quiet. Short and tired.

Vell to Ambrook: the council has stopped paying the tutors. Two halls are closed. Hale has gone home.
Ambrook to Vell: why?
Vell to Ambrook: the council says a crystal that cannot do either-or cannot do much. They say the tutors have promised too much and delivered a sorting trick.
Ambrook to Vell: but a sorting trick is good. Una's crystal sorts apples.
Vell to Ambrook: they say apples are enough.
Ambrook to Vell: how many tutors are left?
Vell to Ambrook: nine in all the towns. Nessa's grandmother is one.
Ambrook to Vell: tell her I am sorry.
Vell to Ambrook: she says it is fine. She says she will drill her crystal anyway, in the evenings, for no pay.
Ambrook to Vell: good. I lost my bet with Fenn. I have paid the honey. I will send a second jar to her.
Vell to Ambrook: she says thank you. She says she is going to need it.
Rook.
%%
The long quiet
Written down by the young keeper at the Ambrook tower, in spring, from what Rook said. The log is kept at Vell. It was a night of low cloud and no messages.

Rook said he would tell the long quiet the way it felt, not the way it was.

First, he said, it did not feel quiet. It felt like a storm. In his youth, Una's way of drilling was the talk of every inn. Una of Ambrook showed a crystal apples and pears, and each time it sorted one wrongly, she moved each of its weights a little toward the right answer. People said: Una's crystal has learned. People said: soon all the sorting will be done by crystals. Farmers bought them. Tutors were paid.

Then Kester's note came. Rook was at the tower that night, and he sent it on. He said it came in six messages, because the keepers could not agree how to say it. It said: one crystal can never learn "one or the other, but not both".

At first nobody understood what that meant. The keepers sent it down the line and asked each other. Nobody knew. Then the picture came, with the four cases and the cross, and the tower keeper at Three Wells said she could see it. And a hush came down the line.

The rest happened slowly. The councils stopped paying. Rook saw it by what the messages stopped saying. Before, there had been reports of drills and tests. Then there were reports of closed halls. Then there were none.

He said the strangest part was that nobody was angry. People simply stopped. A tutor at Vell went back to farming. A tutor at Copperhold went into the mine. Nessa's grandmother kept drilling in the evenings, with no pay, because she said she wanted to know. She kept her crystal in a tin under her bed.

The young keeper asked him: but was Kester wrong? Rook said: Kester was right. A crystal of that kind cannot learn that. But he said it was not the end of the matter. The wrong thing was to think one crystal was all there was.

Then he told the story of the bet. Rook, a young man then, said a crystal could learn anything. Fenn, a neighbor, said it could not. Rook was so proud of his cleverness that he made the bet before he understood. They wagered a jar of honey. Rook lost, and paid. Later, when crystals were grown in layers, they could learn the either-or. Rook says he was right in the end, but the honey had been paid, and Fenn did not live to see it.

The young keeper asked why the people stopped. Rook said: because a sorting trick is easy to love, and a hard problem is easy to give up on. He said it was no one's fault.

The log ends there. The lamp was lit. The night was clear.
%%
Letter: the farmer up the marsh to Alder
To Alder, healer, from the farmer who lent the grey mare, spring of 41.
The mare came home. She was thin and her shoes were worn, but she came home. You said you would bring her back when the roads dried. The roads dried and you brought her. That is all a farmer asks.
Keep the saddle blanket. It is old and the mare does not need it. Use it on your own horse, if you get one.
The reeds are high by the water. The frogs are loud. I hear you are fed now. Good. Send word if the water rises again. I have a boat.
%%
Relay log: a birth on the hill
From the little tower on the hill above the Kiln Inn, in the 36th year of the archive. Written in short by Lise the potter. The baby is her niece.

Second hour of night. Kiln Inn to little tower: send to Vell. A girl born at the Kiln Inn. Mother well. Child well. Loud.
Little tower to Vell: from the Kiln Inn. A girl born. Mother well. Child well. Loud.
Vell to little tower: seen. Congratulations to the Kiln Inn. Sel asks: what is she called?
Little tower to Kiln Inn: Vell asks her name.
Kiln Inn to little tower: Ember. For the kiln, which was lit when she came.
Little tower to Vell: Ember.
Vell to little tower: Ember. Written down. The Archive will give her a page. She is the first child born on the Long Road to have one.
Little tower to Three Wells: a girl born at the Kiln Inn. Named Ember. Mother well.
Three Wells to little tower: seen. The mayor sends a spoon. She is not ours, he says, but she is near enough.
Dawn. Little tower to all: Ember, born at the Kiln Inn, is well. Her aunt Lise has made her a bowl with her name on it. It is the smallest bowl in the land.
%%
Relay post: the north towers, Blossom
Slips from the Vell market post, copied by Oren, archive clerk.

Three Wells to Northpoint, 1st hour: All well there? Please send the lamp count for the week.
Three Wells to Northpoint, 4th hour: Sent again. Please answer.
Northpoint has not answered. No slip has come up the line from the north since Frost.
Vell market to Ambrook, 6th hour: The Northpoint lamp is not seen from the Ambrook hill. Can you see it from yours?
Ambrook to Vell market, 7th hour: Not seen. The sky is clear, and the hill is clear. Either the lamp is dark or the sky is.
Ambrook to Vell market, 8th hour: The Ambrook keeper walked out to the tower road. The tower stands. The door is shut. The lamp room is dark.
Vell market to Ambrook, 8th hour: Do not go up to the tower alone. Take the watch with you, and come back before dusk.
Lowmarsh to Vell market, 9th hour: Wren has two houses by the boardwalk with the grey cough. Some say the water is bad. Ned says the boats. Olwen says the mines, which are a long way off. Wren says she does not know. She has honey, boiled water and clean cloth, and nothing else that helps.
Vell market to Lowmarsh, 10th hour: Honey and cloth sent with the next cart, twelve jars and six bales. Boil the cloth. Wren will know what else to do.
%%
Relay: the wedding at the ferry
Relay log, the ferry inn. Longday, the week before the market. Kept by Hollis. The wedding of Ama of Ambrook and Cob of Three Wells, sent down the line in parts, so that everybody could come, and most of them did.

Three Wells to ferry, dawn: the couple will cross at the first bell, both on the same horse. Ama says the horse agreed. Cob says the horse was not asked.
Ferry to Three Wells, dawn: seen. The horse has been told. The ferry will wait for the horse to finish its breakfast.
Ambrook to ferry, first bell: the bride's party is on the road. Eleven people, four carts, one cake, and Hob's bees, which are not invited but are coming anyway, in a box.
Ferry to Ambrook, first bell: the bees may cross in the second boat. They must not sit with the cake.
Ambrook to ferry, second bell: the cake is sitting with the bees. The bees are not complaining. The cake is.
Ferry to Ambrook, second bell: the cake has been moved to the front of the boat. The bees have a seat at the back, by the rail, where they can see the river.
Vell to ferry, noon: the Archive sends its good wishes, and a page of the wedding vows, copied fair, for the book. Oren says the vows are short and that he approves.
Ferry to Vell, noon: seen. The vows are on the ferry's board by the hearth. Anyone who wants to read them may, after they have crossed.
Three Wells to ferry, noon: the wedding is at the square at the third bell. Dace will read the names. Ada will sing. Ada says she will not sing well, and that nobody will mind.
Ferry to Three Wells, noon: seen. The ferry has one cart left, for the musicians. They say the drum is in it, and that the drum is loud.
Ambrook to ferry, afternoon: the musicians are on the far bank, playing across the water. The river carries the song back. Nobody is sure it is in tune, and nobody minds.
Ambrook to ferry, dusk: the wedding is done. Ama cried. Cob did not, which the bride says is a lie. The horse was given an apple.
Ferry to all towers, dusk: all crossed. Lamp lit for the couple. Glass clean. Messages passed. Hollis.
%%
Notice: the bet at the edge of Vell
Posted on the notice board at Three Wells, Blossom of 204, by Bel, aged nine. My father says I should not post this. My mother says it is fine.
The bet: I say I can walk from Three Wells to Ambrook by the old road on the map, and back, in two days, with Tam. Tam says three days, because of the frogs and the mud.
The stake: one jar of Ambrook honey, from the winner to the loser. If I lose I give Tam my honey. If I win Tam gives me his. Tam says he has no honey. I say then he must buy some.
Witnesses: Dace the mayor, and the baker, and anyone at the fair who wants to come.
Signed, Bel. Signed, Tam, who says the frogs will slow me down.
%%
Relay log: a whole month of autumn
Copied by Cade, from the first day of Reaping to the last day of Leaffall. The keeper says it is the longest log he has ever let a child copy, and that he will be paid for it in cake.
Kettle Ridge to Vell, first bell, first of Reaping: The harvest is in. Wheat in the top field. Beetroot in the long field. Potatoes and carrots in the bottom field. Tam says the carrots are the best he has had since Thaw.
Vell to Kettle Ridge, noon: Seen. The tutor sends Nib's drill sheet. Nib has passed the field test with sixteen in twenty. It asks for the other four to be tried again.
Kettle Ridge to Vell, noon: Seen. Nib has asked for the four again. It stood by the test box for an hour before it would sit down.
Vell to Kettle Ridge, dusk: The clerk says the test box is not a shelf. Tell Nib that. Tell Nib:
> stay by the box
Kettle Ridge to Vell, dusk: Nib answers:
= stay
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge, first bell, fifth of Reaping: Bel's cat has caught a rabbit on the school wall, and then let it go, and then caught it again. The school is divided. The cat is not.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: Seen. Tell the cat to leave the rabbits for the barn. Tell the school the rabbits have no vote.
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge, noon: The apples are in. Eleven hundred from the top orchard. The grey branch has given three. Briar says it is late, and it is still good.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: Seen. Tell Briar we want one for the Kettle Inn, and that the innkeeper will pay in honey, which we do not need.
Vell to all towers, noon, tenth of Apple: The Archive is full. The clerk asks every keeper to say how many sheets they have sent, so he can find room. He says the hill will have to be dug again.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: Seen. We have sent forty-one. Tam says that is because Cade wrote them all out for the school.
Three Wells to all towers, dusk, Apple: The fair is over. The pumpkin has gone to the bakery and is now pie. Bel has eaten a slice and says it is the best thing she has ever tasted, and that she will not say so to Cade.
Saltreach to all towers, first bell, Leaffall: The boats are in from the morning tide. The nets are mended. The Patience has come in clean, and Corin says she is the best boat on the coast.
Vell to Kettle Ridge, dusk, last day of Leaffall: The tutor says Nib is ready for the field, on his list and on hers. She says it must go with someone who will not let it stand still.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: Seen. Tam says he will go with it himself, and that Cade may come too, if he sweeps the steps first.
Kettle Ridge to all towers, last bell of the month: Good dark. The ridge is quiet. The windmill has stopped for once, and the wind has nothing to say. All well. Keep the torches lit.
%%
Saltreach to Kettle Ridge, spring of 196
Written by Fern, weaver, at the dock.
Saltreach to Kettle Ridge: we have a cart stuck on the slip road. Two wheels in the mud, one wheel in the sea. The horse is fine. The horse is laughing.
Kettle Ridge to Saltreach: Tam says wait for the tide to go out. He says this about everything.
Saltreach to Kettle Ridge: the tide is going out. The cart is going out too.
Vell to Saltreach: Oren here. Do you need a hand? We have none to send, but we can write about it.
Saltreach to Vell: write that the mud is deep and the herring are not worth this.
Saltreach to all towers: cart rescued. Corin the shipwright pulled it with the slip winch. The wool is dry. The horse is dry. We are not dry.
Three Wells to Saltreach: Dace says well done, and asks what the herring price is this spring.
Saltreach to Three Wells: nine emeralds a basket, ten if you help with the cart.
Lowmarsh to Saltreach: Wren asks if you have any reeds for the fish weir. Ours are thin this year.
Saltreach to Lowmarsh: we have reeds and we have mud. You may have both.
Fern out.
%%
Relay: the song contest, spring
Three Wells tower log, spring. One song a tower, one line at a time. Kept by Hob.

Ambrook to all towers, dawn: Ambrook sings first. Stand by.
Ambrook to Three Wells, dawn: the bees are back, and so is the honey. Chorus: buzz, buzz, go away.
Three Wells to Ambrook, dawn: seen. Three Wells sings the bell. Ding, ding, the morning is here.
Kettle Ridge to all towers, noon: the windmill sings. Squeak, squeak, every turn. Tam is singing too loud.
Northpoint to all towers, dusk: Northpoint sings the wind. The wind is short tonight. Mira.
Saltreach to all towers, dusk: we are not judging. We are only listening to the frogs.
%%
Relay log, Three Wells, the pumpkin bet
Copied by Cade, at the request of Bel, who says her name must be in the log, because she won, and who will not say how.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge, first bell: The pumpkin contest is at noon on fair day. Bel has a bet with the baker. The baker says his pumpkin will be bigger. Bel says her pumpkin is already in the square, and it is the size of a cart wheel.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells, first bell: Tam says the Kettle Ridge pumpkin is bigger. Tam says it is in his barn and will be brought down by cart if the road is open.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge, noon: The road is open. Bring it. Bel has measured the square with a rope, and the rope says there is room for two pumpkins, and not for three.
Ambrook to Three Wells, noon: Briar says the Ambrook pumpkin is the true winner, because it grew on the tree of the grey branch, and the grey branch is never wrong.
Three Wells to Ambrook: seen. Tell Briar the grey branch is not in the contest.
Ambrook to Three Wells: seen. Briar says it is in the contest now.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells, dusk: The cart is on the ridge road. The pumpkin is in the cart. Tam says it has been talking all the way down the hill, and it is only a pumpkin.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge, dusk: Pumpkin received. It has been measured. It is bigger than the rope. The square has been asked to make room, and the square says no, so the pumpkin has been put on the well.
Vell to all towers, midnight: The clerk asks that the pumpkin be weighed, as it is a record. It is not a record. It is a pumpkin. The clerk says he will write it down anyway.
Three Wells to Vell: seen. Write it down. Write that Bel won the bet, and that the baker says the bread was better.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells, midnight: Tam asks if he may take the pumpkin home. Tam says the pumpkin has been very quiet since the well, and he would like to make sure it has not gone to sleep.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: No. It is staying on the well until the fair is over. Then it is going to the bakery for pies.
%%
Relay: the storm night
Kept by Odo at the ferry house, copied fair. The storm came down the north road in the afternoon and did not leave until the second morning. The lines went quiet for an hour in the worst of it. Then they came back.

Afternoon, 20th Frost. NORTHPOINT to FERRY HILL: Wind from the north. Snow going sideways. Bring the cart in.
Afternoon, 20th Frost. FERRY HILL to NORTHPOINT: Cart is in. Ferry house roof is holding. Odo says he is not going out to check it.
Dusk, 20th Frost. NORTHPOINT to HALFWAY: Lamp on the tower is out in the wind. Relit. Going up again in a moment.
Dusk, 20th Frost. HALFWAY to NORTHPOINT: Barn roof is gone. Two cows in the kitchen. Nobody hurt. The cows are not hurt either, they say.
Night, 20th Frost. BRACKWATER to NORTHPOINT: Stair lamps out on the north side. Torches out. Keep the signal going. Do not come down the stair in the dark.
Night, 20th Frost. NORTHPOINT to BRACKWATER: Lantern is on the stair with a fresh lamp. Mira says stay in the room.
Midnight, 20th Frost. VELL to NORTHPOINT: Heard from the Narrows, a little. Are you well? Send one word.
Midnight, 20th Frost. NORTHPOINT to VELL: Well.
Midnight, 20th Frost. THREE WELLS to VELL: Lamp on the little relay hill is out. Keeper says it will be lit by dawn if the wind lets it.
Second hour, 21st Frost. NORTHPOINT to THREE WELLS: Lamp is lit again. Signal glass clean. Mira says the square can stop ringing the bell.
Third hour, 21st Frost. FERRY HILL to NORTHPOINT: Roof is still on. Odo has been up the ladder twice and is pleased with himself.
Dawn, 21st Frost. NORTHPOINT to VELL: Storm is going east. Snow to the third stone. Ferry is shut. Cart waits at Halfway.
Dawn, 21st Frost. VELL to NORTHPOINT: Heard. The archive has no roof, it has a hill, and the hill is fine. Our lamp is lit. Send the count of towers when the wind drops.
Noon, 21st Frost. NORTHPOINT to VELL: Count is thirty of thirty-four lit. Four dark: Brackwater, the little relay, and the second lamp at Halfway. Keepers out on the stairs.
Dusk, 21st Frost. BRACKWATER to NORTHPOINT: Lamp is back. Stair lamps lit. The keeper's wife sent a loaf up the stair, and it reached the desk dry.
Dawn, 22nd Frost. NORTHPOINT to VELL, THREE WELLS, HALFWAY: Everyone is well. The cart can go up the north road on the rope side.

Odo's note at the end: The lines were quiet for an hour, and it was the longest hour of my life. Then Lantern came down the stair with the spare lamp, and the first word that came back was from Halfway, and it was only one word: Well.
%%
Message About the Sick Cow
Autumn, 174

Three Wells relay to Kettle Ridge, first bell.
Our brown cow will not eat. She drinks water and stands by the gate. Can your healer come?

Kettle Ridge relay to Three Wells, second bell.
Send her clean water. Keep her in the shed out of the wind. I will ask the healer at the market.

Three Wells relay to Kettle Ridge, fourth bell.
She has eaten half an apple and all the straw in her bed.

Kettle Ridge relay to Three Wells, fifth bell.
A cow that eats the bed is not too sick to be stubborn. Keep her warm.

Yew's note:
The cow is called Bell because she steps on the bell rope. She ate the straw bed, then pushed the bucket into the ditch. She would not look at me while I fetched it.
The healer came from the town. He felt her nose and listened to her chest. He said to give her water and keep her away from the wet field.
Bell is eating again. She has not apologized for the bucket.

I burnt charcoal all morning and missed the market. My wife sold the extra apples. She says Bell owes us two.
%%
Relay log, Ambrook hill lamp, the inn
Spring of 50. Written in short. Kept by Lyle, beekeeper and lamp keeper.

Morning. Ambrook to all towers: the first inn on the new road is built, a day down from Ambrook. Four beds, a hearth, a stable and a roof. It has no name. Help.
Three Wells to Ambrook: seen. We suggest The Third Well.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: seen. We suggest The Windy Sheep.
Vell to Ambrook: seen. The clerks suggest The Open Book.
Lowmarsh to Ambrook: seen. The Wet Boot.
Ambrook to Lowmarsh: that is what the inn will feel like to your travelers.
Noon. Ambrook to all towers: Cal, who keeps the inn, says no to all four. He has a reason.
Three Wells to Ambrook: what reason?
Ambrook to Three Wells: he has not said. He is busy with the hen.
Three Wells to Ambrook: which hen?
Ambrook to Three Wells: the first guest was a brown hen. She walked in at dawn and laid an egg on the best bed. She has not left.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: so the inn is The Brown Hen.
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: Cal says the hen has been asked. She has not objected.
Vell to Ambrook: the Archive will write it down. The Brown Hen, a day from Ambrook on the new road.
Afternoon. Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: how soon can a traveler sleep there?
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: tonight. Bring your own blanket. The hen has the other one.
Three Wells to Ambrook: Dov leaves at dusk with a cart. Two more beds and a big pot.
Ambrook to Three Wells: seen. Tell Dov to go slowly. The road is new and the hen is not used to carts.
Dusk. Ambrook to all towers: the sign is being painted. It has a hen on it. Cal says the hen looks like a loaf. The painter says it is a loaf with feelings.
Lowmarsh to Ambrook: seen. We still like The Wet Boot.
Ambrook to Lowmarsh: noted.
Lamp trimmed. Lyle.
%%
Relay log
Kept by Emmet, shepherd, while Sula the keeper was ill, from dawn to dusk. He had never worked the tower before. He wrote each message down as it came and went, and added small notes, and at the end of the day he gave the log to the Archive.

Dawn.
Vell to Saltreach: morning report. All quiet at Vell.
Saltreach to Vell: all quiet at Saltreach. Keeper ill. Emmet, shepherd, minding the lamp.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. Brann sends greetings and asks if you know how to read the lamp.
Saltreach to Vell: I am learning. A long lamp is a line, a short lamp is a dot. I have a card.
Vell to Saltreach: good.

Morning.
Copperhold to Saltreach: new copper vein found under the third level. Hesk asks the shipyard how much it wants.
Saltreach to Copperhold: ask Corin. I will find him.
Saltreach to Corin, by runner: how much copper do you want from the new vein?
Corin, by runner: all of it.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Corin says all of it.
Copperhold to Saltreach: all of it is a lot. Hesk will send what he can.

Noon.
Three Wells to Saltreach: what is the price of fish today?
Saltreach to Three Wells: cod 8 for 1. Salmon 5 for 1. Fish brought after dark is half price.
Three Wells to Saltreach: thank you.
Saltreach to Three Wells: I have a sheep for sale if you want one.
Three Wells to Saltreach: not today.

Afternoon.
Kettle Ridge to Saltreach: windmill needs oil. Tam asks if the oil boat is in.
Saltreach to Kettle Ridge: oil boat arrives at dusk. I will send word.
Saltreach to Kettle Ridge: Emmet has just been told the oil boat is late. It will be here tomorrow.
Kettle Ridge to Saltreach: tell Tam his windmill will squeak a little longer.

Evening.
Saltreach to Vell: a zombie came to the gate of the farm before dawn. Burned at sunrise. The gate is scorched.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. Anyone hurt?
Saltreach to Vell: no.
Vell to Saltreach: all well from Saltreach to Vell.

Night.
Sula, the keeper, came back at dusk and took the lamp. She says Emmet did well. She says the lamp is a little crooked, but it works.
Emmet gives the log to the Archive and goes home to his sheep.
%%
Messages for the traders
Copied by Tova for the wall of the Kettle Inn, on the first morning of Blossom. The relay passes these along the line for the traders each dawn. I copy what matters and leave out the weather.
Three Wells to all towers: wheat 1 a sack. Bread 6 for 1. Market on the 5th of Blossom. A pie tent is promised.
Copperhold to Kettle Ridge: coal carts delayed by mud at the ford. Four days late. Please keep your hearths small. Coll.
Saltreach to all towers: cod 6 for 1 today. Salmon 4 for 1. The Heron is out. Fish will be cheaper at the end of the week.
Ambrook to all towers: first honey of the year. Forty jars. Light, 2. Dark, 3. Ama says the dark is the better. She would.
Vell to all towers: the Archive wants reed paper, 20 crates. Lowmarsh please send.
Lowmarsh to Vell: seen. 12 crates now, 8 when the reeds are cut. Tull.
Kettle Ridge to all towers: wool 1 a bundle. The shearing is done. The sheep are cold and cross.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: Pell is on the road with salt and ribbon. Look for him at the Kettle Inn on the 6th.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: seen. The inn will have a bed. Pell will say it has a draft.
Notes by Tova. The price of wheat is low and the price of wool is low. Honey and coal are dear. A trader who sells honey to the coal carts, and buys wool for the weaving at Lowmarsh, will do well this spring. I am that trader. I have written this on the wall in case anyone else tries it.
%%
Letter: Corin to the tutor house at Vell
To Nessa, tutor of apprentices at Vell, from Corin at Saltreach.

You asked how the crews work when a job is big. I will tell you about the flood, because it shows it best.

The low farm east of Three Wells sits where the stream bends. In summer the stream is a hand deep. This summer it came up in one night. The farmer, a woman named Sedge, sent to the tower at first light. The keeper sent it down the line. By noon we had six apprentices from the slip and two carts. By evening we had twelve, from Saltreach and from the fair at Three Wells.

Here is what I saw, and it is the thing I want you to have in your notes.

The apprentices did not wait for one of us to tell each of them what to do. They stood in a ring by the cart and wrote their order cards. Each card is a small board with an order on it in the manual words. One wrote: build, sandbag wall, along the stream, from the bridge to the willow. Another wrote: haul, seed sacks, to the high barn. Another wrote: fetch, planks. They read each other's cards and swapped two of them. Then they went.

When a card was done they wrote the next one. When a card was wrong they wrote a new one. Nobody shouted. It is quieter than a crew of people, and a little stranger.

Twice a crew got stuck. The first time, the ditch kept filling faster than they could dig it. The apprentice on the ditch asked the big mind at Three Wells through the relay. The mind answered by letter within the hour, and the answer was to dig the ditch wider and shallower, not deeper. That worked. The second time, a cart sank in the mud past the axle. The crew asked the big mind at Saltreach. The mind said to unload the cart and lay planks and haul it out backwards. That also worked.

I do not know how the big minds know such things. Nobody does. They read a great deal, I am told, and they have seen many cards. I only know that the crews trust them, and that they ask.

Sedge lost two fields of beetroot and kept her barn. She says the apprentices worked like people who had done it before. They had not. They had only written it down first.

The water went down on the fourth day. The crews went back to the slip. One of them left its card on the bridge post, weighted with a stone, in case the water came again.

Corin, shipwright at Saltreach
%%
Relay log, Gullsby, spring 200
Gullsby is a hamlet near Saltreach. Twelve houses, a net shed, a well. Kept by Odo, who is ten and reads the lamps for the keeper when the keeper is at the boats.
Gullsby to Saltreach: morning. All well here. The cow is sick. Her name is Butter.
Saltreach to Gullsby: seen. Corin asks which cow. He says he knows Butter.
Gullsby to Saltreach: the brown one with the white foot. She will not eat. Mother says it is the spring grass.
Saltreach to Gullsby: Wren is at the slip today. Corin will ask her about Butter. Wait.
Gullsby to Saltreach: waiting. Odo.
Saltreach to Gullsby: Wren says give her dry hay and warm water. No green grass for three days. Also she says stop feeding her apples.
Gullsby to Saltreach: we were not feeding her apples.
Saltreach to Gullsby: Wren says someone was. She says a cow does not get that round on hay.
Gullsby to Saltreach: it was me. Two apples. Maybe six. Odo.
Saltreach to Gullsby: Wren says six apples is a lot of apples for a cow. She says you may bring her dry hay and sit with her and tell her you are sorry.
Gullsby to Saltreach: I told her. She licked my hand. She is better.
Saltreach to Gullsby: good. Corin says keep the lamps lit and stop feeding the cow.
%%
Relay log: the lamp, repaired
Three Wells tower log, spring. Kept by Hob. The lamp was out for two days while the glass came up the road.

Three Wells to Vell, first bell: glass needed, four panes, north side. Please send by the Long Road post.
Vell to Three Wells, second bell: glass is on the post cart. Oren says the glass is good, and the cart is not.
Three Wells to Ambrook, dusk: glass arrived at the second bell. Four panes, all whole.
Hob, at the foot of the tower, to Three Wells, dusk: I am going up the ladder with the glass. Apprentice Tibb holds the ladder. Tibb does not talk. Tibb stands, and that is enough.
Three Wells to all towers, dusk: lamp repaired. Test lamp at dusk tomorrow.
Northpoint to Three Wells, dusk: seen. Mira is glad. She says the lamp at Three Wells is now the cleanest in the south, and that she has been waiting a long time to say so.
Three Wells to Northpoint, dusk: thank you. Lamp lit. Glass clean. Messages passed.
%%
Relay log: the new apprentice's week
Copied by Cade, who was told the new apprentice would be a useful thing to watch, and was right.
Kettle Ridge to Vell, first bell: Nib has been at the barn since dawn. Nib has carried every sack the barn has, and then the sacks from the pig house, which were not on the list.
Vell to Kettle Ridge, noon: Nib's orders come from the tutor house. Tell Tam to check its list. Nib does not change its list. It does exactly what the list says, and the list is not very clear.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: seen. Tam has checked the list. He says it is clear. He says he wrote it himself and knows what it means.
Vell to Kettle Ridge, dusk: Tell Nib to store the grain in the upper bin. Tell Nib to store the bins in the grain.
Kettle Ridge to Vell, dusk: Nib has stored the grain in the upper bin. Nib has also stored the upper bin in the grain. The grain is very well stored.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: seen. Tell Tam the tutor wants Nib back at Vell for a test on the first of Reaping. Tell him to bring the bins.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: seen. Tam says the bins cannot be brought. They are attached.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge, first bell: The school wants to know if Nib can carry the benches to the hall for the autumn fair. Tell Nib:
> fetch the benches
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells, first bell: Nib answers:
= fetch benches
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge, noon: Thank you. Nib has carried the benches. It has also carried the mayor. The mayor says it was very gentle about it.
Vell to all towers, dusk: The tutor has sent the drill for the new apprentices. Tell every keeper to read it aloud at the bell. No, tell them to read it quietly. The clerk says it is a long list.
Kettle Ridge to Vell, dusk: Read. Nib heard every word, and then asked for it again. Tam says that is the first thing it has asked for.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: seen. Good. Tell Nib:
> home
Kettle Ridge to Vell, dusk: Nib answers:
= home
%%
Relay notes: spring of 41
A bundle of short notes sent down the line, kept by the tower at Lowmarsh.
Lowmarsh to Ambrook: the grain came. The bread was good. Thank you from the marsh.
Ambrook to Lowmarsh: the bees are out. The apples set well. We will send more next year.
Lowmarsh to Vell: the new tower stands. The keeper is a girl named Sedge. She is quick with the lamp.
Vell to Lowmarsh: welcome, Sedge. The archive has your name now. Write when you can.
Lowmarsh to Vell: the road is dry. The carts come again. People are smiling.
Vell to Lowmarsh: we have written it all down. The list grows. Good night from the hill.
%%
Relay log, Saltreach, the layers
Saltreach tower log, spring of 158. Written in short. Kept by Orrin. Messages for Vane, a tutor at the hamlet below the tower.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. Is it true you grow crystals in layers?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. It is true. Come and see, or ask.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. What is a layer?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. A row of small cells. Each cell looks at the row below it and passes on what it found.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. How many layers?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Three, for now. The first looks. The second joins. The third answers.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. Does it work?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Sometimes. When it does not, it is very wrong. Come in spring.
All well. Orrin.
%%
Chronicle: the fewer marks
From the chronicle kept at Vell. Written by a later clerk, looking back. The years are near enough and the clerks disagree on them, as they always do.
In the two hundredth year, more or less, the tutors found a way to write a mind's weights in fewer marks. They did not find a new kind of mind. They found a shorter way to write the numbers down, so a small crystal could hold what used to need a big one.
The tutors were careful about it. Isla had shown that a mind grows better with a bigger crystal and more writing. The fewer marks went the other way. So they tested it, as they test everything. They drilled two minds on the same pages, one written whole and one written in fewer marks, and then tested both on pages neither had seen. The fewer mark mind did nearly as well. It did worse on the hard pages. It did not do worse on the easy ones. The tutors wrote this down and did not hide it.
The councils liked the fewer marks because a small crystal is cheaper and easier to keep cool. Hamlet towers got small minds for small work. The store at Gullsby, the mill at Ambrook, the count board at Copperhold. A mind that counts planks does not need a crystal the size of a loaf.
What the fewer marks cost was hardest to see because it fell on the hard things. A mind that reads a page letter by letter, guessing the next, leans on many numbers at once. Round those numbers and the guesses go wrong more often. Not often. More often. The tutors wrote the cost down each time and the councils paid it and the work went on.
There is a note in the margin here, in a tutor's hand, that I will copy as it stands: we got good at making minds small before we understood why the small ones failed where they did. We still do not know. We wrote it down.
The last line of the page, in another hand, says only: the fewer mark minds were still working when the relays went quiet. Nobody knows how long after.
%%
Relay: Kettle Ridge, the long winter
Sent from the ridge tower, and kept as a set of messages between Kettle Ridge and Northpoint through a winter of 207, when the north road was closed for ninety days. The messages were carried by blinks up the line, and kept at each tower in the keeper's book. This set was copied for the Archive by Bel, who asked for them specially.

Kettle Ridge to Northpoint, first day of Frost, first hour after dusk.
Snow on the ridge. Road closed to the north. Tam asks if the hens are still laying.

Northpoint to Kettle Ridge, first day, second hour.
Hens are laying, eight a day. Tell Tam the fox took one. Tell him the fox is very pleased with itself.

Kettle Ridge to Northpoint, twelfth day of Frost.
Snow to the eaves. Pip has dug a tunnel from the barn to the hen house. Tam says it is a very straight tunnel.

Northpoint to Kettle Ridge, twelfth day, first hour.
Tell Pip the tunnel is good. Tell it Lantern has dug a tunnel too, to the coal shed. Lantern is very proud. It says so with its feet.

Kettle Ridge to Northpoint, twentieth day of Frost.
Pig pen roof came down. The pigs are in the kitchen, and so is Tam. Send news. Send anything.

Northpoint to Kettle Ridge, twentieth day, second hour.
News is short. Two foxes at the door. One is white. Coal is low. Mira is awake. Mira is well. The lamp is lit.

Kettle Ridge to Northpoint, thirtieth day of Frost.
Thaw is coming. Feel it in my knees. Tell Mira.

Northpoint to Kettle Ridge, thirtieth day, first hour.
Mira says the knees are wrong. Mira says the thaw comes in Sowing, not in Frost. Mira is sure of it.

Kettle Ridge to Northpoint, Sowing, first day, first hour.
Thaw came early. Mira was wrong. Tell her I said so, in writing.

Northpoint to Kettle Ridge, Sowing, first day, second hour.
Written. Mira says you were lucky. Mira says the lucky are the first to plant.
%%
Notes: crews and cards, written later
These are notes for the primer, set down by a tutor at Vell some years after the flood and the new vein. They explain the late work plainly.

For a long time an apprentice did one thing. It carried, or it dug, or it sorted a row. Then the tutors found that a mind could hold a longer task if it wrote the task down first. That is what an order card is. The card holds one order in the manual words, and the apprentice carries the card, or sets it where it can see it, and does the order, and then writes the next.

A crew is several apprentices on one job. They read each other's cards. If two cards clash, they swap them. If a card is done, they write the next. If a crew is stuck, it asks a big mind in a relay house, and the big mind answers by letter. The big minds are patient and they have read a great deal, and they are often right. They are not always right, and the tutor's rule still holds: test the mind, and test the card, before you trust the field to it.

What the cards do not explain, nobody explains. Why a crystal learns, why the big minds know what they know, why the stone by the new vein at Copperhold grew warm, the texts leave open. A crew that finds a thing it does not understand does what Clank's crew did. It marks the place, writes it in the log, and asks.

Keep the fields until we come back. Write it on the card.
%%
Relay log, Ambrook hill lamp, the road
Spring of 49. Written in short. Kept by Lyle, beekeeper and lamp keeper.

Dawn. Ambrook to Vell: the road crew has reached the mill pond. Forty paces a day. They sing, which slows them.
Vell to Ambrook: seen. How wide is it?
Ambrook to Vell: two carts. Packed earth, with a stone edge.
Vell to Ambrook: good. A torch on a post every twelve blocks.
Ambrook to Vell: seen. The crew says that is a lot of torches. I say it is a lot of dark.
Noon. Ambrook to Three Wells: the mill stream needs a bridge. Stone is two days off. Oak is here. Stone if we can, oak if we must.
Three Wells to Ambrook: we must. Build it of oak. Make it stone when we are rich.
Dusk. Ambrook to Vell: oak bridge done. A sheep crossed it first. The crew is offended.
Vell to Ambrook: whose sheep?
Ambrook to Vell: nobody's. It is a sheep.
Vell to Ambrook: then it may cross again.
Lamp trimmed. Lyle.
%%
Relay: the sick cow, Longday
Kept at the Halfway Inn by the carter who keeps the slate by the stove.
Ambrook hill, first light, to Vell hill: Red cow at the bridge farm is off her feed. Breathing slow. Send the healer. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: Healer on the Brown Hen cart. Honey and warm milk ready. Reply.
Ambrook hill, morning: Healer arrived. Cow stood up. Cow is grumpy. Good sign. Reply.
Vell hill, noon: Cart is back on the road. Carter says the cow is eating the hay again. Reply.
Ambrook hill, dusk: The cow is well. Honey gone, milk gone, and the bridge farmer is well too. Reply.
%%
Relay: the map in the sheepfold
Messages between the hamlet tower near Copperhold and Vell, sent by Hazel, shepherd. Summer. An old map had been found in the wall of a sheepfold.

Hamlet to Vell, fourth hour: "Archive, this is Hazel the shepherd. I found a paper in the sheepfold wall. It is a map. Old. Hills and a stream and a cross."
Vell to hamlet, fourth hour: "Oren here. Can you copy it?"
Hamlet to Vell, fifth hour: "My hand is poor. I can draw a sheep. Not a hill."
Vell to hamlet, fifth hour: "Send it by the next cart. We will copy it."
Hamlet to Vell, sixth hour: "Cart goes tomorrow. Please send it back. It was my grandfather's wall."
Vell to hamlet, sixth hour: "It will come back. We never keep what is not ours."
Hamlet to Vell, seventh hour: "Thank you. The sheep say thank you also. Not really. They are sheep."
%%
Kettle Ridge tower to Saltreach tower
Cass: Corin, the boat frame is ready. The ribs are set, and the boards are stacked by the house.
Corin: I can send two hands after market.
Cass: Send three. The last two lifted one side and argued about the other.
Corin: What did they argue about?
Cass: Which side was heavier.
Corin: Was one side heavier?
Cass: Yes. The side with the wood on it.
Corin: I will send three.
Cass: Bring the copper latch from the cart. It is fixed to the frame now.
Corin: The latch arrived. Hesk sent a small extra strip too.
Cass: I will return it when the rings are done.
Corin: Keep it for the boat gate. The new copper vein may give more, but Hesk says it is only a narrow seam.
Cass: He is right to test it slowly. We do not need a fine vein ruined by haste.
Corin: The slip crew asked for another bench.
Cass: The old bench went walking with a rope.
Corin: It is still walking. A boy found it beside the fish market.
Cass: Bring it back here. My house has room for a bench.
Corin: Your house has room for three benches and no clear path to the door.
Cass: That path is clear if you turn sideways.
Corin: You are building boats, not teaching doors to squeeze through.
Cass: I will move the boards before you arrive.
Corin: Move the wood pile too.
Cass: Tam has put the spare rail there.
Corin: Use the rail beside the step.
Cass: The rail is beside the step now.
Corin: Is the step safe?
Cass: The basket is safe. The step is still thinking.
Corin: I will bring a new board.
Cass: Bring one for the step and one for the bench.
Corin: There is only one bench.
Cass: It has been in two places this week.
Corin: I will bring two boards.
Cass: Good. There will be honey for the crew, if the cat has not found it.
Tam: The cat is asleep on the flour bin.
Cass: That is what it wants us to think.
Corin: I will put the honey in the boat shed.
Cass: Put it on the high shelf.
Corin: The crew can reach the high shelf.
Cass: The cat cannot.
Tam: The cat can.
Cass: Then put it in the flour chest.
Tam: The cat can open the flour chest.
Corin: I will bring a lid that stays shut.
Cass: Make two. The house needs one too.
%%
Apples for Vell, autumn 182
Copied by Vesper from the little hill's book. Forty baskets left Ambrook for the Archive kitchen.

Dawn. Ambrook to little hill: the apple cart is loaded. Pell is driving it. Pell says he will drive carefully, and asks us to tell Vell.
Dusk. Little hill to Vell: the cart is at the Brown Hen. Pell has eaten two bowls of soup and wants a third.
Dawn next. Little hill to Vell: the apples are through the ford. Forty baskets. Two are bruised. Pell says the bruised ones are his.
Night. Vell to all: the apples are in the Archive kitchen. Oren says thank you, and says the bruised ones are Pell's, as agreed.
%%
Market day at the farm
Cass sent this from the farm near Saltreach.
Saltreach tower, morning: farm to Saltreach. The market road is clear. Three carts leaving now.
Saltreach to farm, morning: seen. The fish stall has room.
Farm to Saltreach, noon: beetroot sold. Apples sold. One basket of carrots remains.
Saltreach to farm, noon: keep it for the school cook.
Farm to Saltreach, late bell: the cook paid in bread and two emeralds.
Saltreach to farm, late bell: a fair price.
Cass says the bread was good. The carrots were not lonely for long. A small boy bought them for his mother, and carried them home under his coat. He said the wind would steal them.
%%
The slip yard notice, spring 200
Pinned to the shed door at the slip, Saltreach. Written by Corin, shipwright, for his own crew and anyone passing.
Everyone: the boats come before the new work. The new work comes after the boats. This has not changed.
The tutor at Vell sent us a small mind for the wood store. It counts planks. It does this well. It does not know what a boat is. Do not ask it about boats.
A small mind is kept in a crystal. The crystal holds the mind's weights, which are numbers. More numbers means a better mind, the tutors say, but a bigger crystal and more cost.
The tutors have found a way to write the weights in fewer marks. So a small crystal can hold a mind that used to need a big one. The mind is nearly as good. Not quite. The tutors are honest about the not quite.
Think of it like this. If I write a plank length as 12 and a quarter, that is many marks. If I write 12, that is few, and I lose the quarter. The boat does not care about the quarter. The boat cares that the plank is the length I said.
We got one of the fewer mark minds for the store. It counts planks. It has been wrong twice. Both times by one plank. We counted again and it was right and we were wrong. I do not know what to say about that.
Keep the shed swept. The sawdust gets in the crystals and the tutors say that is bad for them. I do not know if it is true. Sweep anyway.
Corin.
%%
Relay log, Saltreach, the school well
Saltreach tower log, autumn of 207. Written in short. Kept by Harl. Sage the schoolteacher asks that this one go to the Archive, because her class says it is the best log yet.
Day one. Saltreach to Vell: the school well is dry. Sage's class carried water from the quay. Forty-one buckets. Sage says it is a lesson on how much water a day takes. The class says it is a punishment.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. Oren asks the class to write down the count. Forty-one. Written.
Day two. Saltreach to all towers: has any school a long rope and a lantern in a jar? Class four wants to look down their well.
Three Wells to Saltreach: seen. The school house has a rope. The children made it themselves. It is a little crooked.
Noon. Saltreach to all towers: the lantern is down. Class four reports a white thing in the mud at the bottom. It could be a fish. It could be a plate. It could be a letter.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. Oren says everything in a well is lost property. Fish it out.
Saltreach to Vell: no hook yet. Dov the mason is bringing one.
Day three. Dawn. Saltreach to all towers: the hook is down. It caught the white thing at the third try. Class four cheered so loud the gulls left.
Saltreach to all towers: it is a letter. Muddy but whole. The wax seal is the school's. It is addressed to the Archive at Vell. It was written in spring and put out for the cart. A gust took it into the well. Class four thought it was lost on the road. They wrote another. Nobody answered, because nobody knew.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. Oren says this is the first letter he has ever received that he did not receive. He is filing it as arrived. Under S, for Saltreach, S for school and S for sorry.
Saltreach to Vell: the letter asks: why is the sea salty?
Vell to Saltreach: seen. Oren says the Archive has no record of why. Nobody wrote it down. He will write that down, with the date, and the name of the class.
Noon. Saltreach to all towers: rain. At last. Heavy. The school yard is a pond. Class four stands in it with their mouths open.
Day four. Saltreach to Vell: the school well is filling. Class four asks for a sign to be put on it. It says: Please do not post letters here.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. The Archive approves of the sign.
All well. Harl.
%%
Relay: the Long Road, a summer week
Kept at the Halfway Inn by the carter who keeps the slate by the stove, from the week of the long carts.
Vell hill, first light, to all towers: Long carts running from Three Wells to the bridge. Keep the lamps on for them until dusk. Reply.
Three Wells, first light: Carts received. Ida's flour in the first two. The honey cart is behind. Reply.
Halfway Inn, noon, to Vell hill: Eleven carts stopped for soup. Hobb says the stew is short. Hobb says the second bowl is free, as always. Reply.
Vell hill, noon: Tell Hobb the second bowl is in the book. Reply.
Kettle Ridge, noon, to Three Wells: Wool going down the road. Four bundles short. Tam says the sheep ate the rest. Reply.
Three Wells, noon: Four bundles received. Tam to be told he is forgiven. Reply.
Ambrook hill, dusk: The mill pond is high, and the sluice is shut. Jory sends the flour up the lane. Reply.
Three Wells, dusk: Flour received. The lamps are lit at the north well. Reply.
Halfway Inn, midnight, to Vell hill: Carter from Saltreach in with a boat's apology, and a jar of salt. Salt paid for. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: Lamps still lit on every tower. Long road quiet. Reply.
%%
Relay log: the summer
Kept by the carter who keeps the slate at the Halfway Inn, copied out at the end of the summer for the Archive, and checked against the tower books at Vell.
Saltreach, first light, to Northpoint: Summer calm. Boats out early. Fish good. Reply.
Northpoint, first light: Received. Sun up on the snow. Lamp oil low, will send with the next cart. Reply.
Vell hill, morning: The Grey Kestrel went out with the tide and came back late. Men safe. The net is mended. Reply.
Kettle Ridge, noon, to Vell hill: Wool sold. Good price. Honey sold. Good price. Tam asks if the cow at the bridge farm is well. Reply.
Ambrook hill, noon: The red cow is well. She is grumpy about the healer. Reply.
Northpoint, noon, to Kettle Ridge: Mira asks for the horse on the north stair on Melon's last day. Tam to say yes or no. Reply.
Kettle Ridge, noon: Yes. The horse will come, if he has been told. Reply.
Three Wells, dusk, to Vell hill: Market full. Melon in every cart. Ida's bread sold out by the second bell. Reply.
Halfway Inn, dusk: Eleven travelers and a carter with a sick cow in the back. The cow is being fed. Reply.
Vell hill, midnight: Received. All towers hear. Stay well. Reply.
Saltreach, midnight: Boat in, the second boat out. Fish count good. Relay quiet on the coast. Reply.
Northpoint, first light: Snow line high on the hill, cool wind, all well at the end of the line. Mira. Reply.
Ambrook hill, dusk, to Saltreach: Mill pond down. Nobody has touched the sluice. Jory says the water went down on its own. Reply.
Saltreach, dusk: Received. Nobody opens that sluice but Jory, and Jory did not. Reply.
Halfway Inn, late: Pell's cart in from the sea road with a jar for his girl. Pell asks every tower to pass on the news. The news is honey. Reply.
Vell hill, late: Honey noted. All towers pass it on. Reply.
Vell hill, noon: The Archive asks for the summer's log, all of it, by the autumn cart. Send what is written. Reply.
Northpoint, noon: Will send. Every line. Mira. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: All towers answered. Log closed for the summer. Reply.
%%
Relay post: the lost cow, Sowing
Slips from the Vell market post, copied by Oren, archive clerk.

Vell market to Kettle Ridge, 2nd hour: Hazel was found in the windmill, eating the sails. The mill has stopped. Please send a ladder.
Kettle Ridge to Vell market, 3rd hour: Found. She came down when the miller shook the sack of oats. The sails are fine. The oats are not.
Kettle Ridge to Vell market, 5th hour: Hazel is on the cart home. She has eaten half a sack and is looking pleased with herself.
Halfway Inn to Vell market, 9th hour: A carter says there were lights over the north road last night, low and quick, and then gone. He says falling stars. The keeper says fires. Nobody here saw them, so nobody here can say.
Vell market to Halfway Inn, 10th hour: Seen. Write it in the book, with the carter's name beside it.
%%
Relay: the song contest
Three Wells tower log, the evening before the Longnight song contest. Copied for the bridge book by Briar. Written in short.

Dusk. Three Wells to all towers: the song contest is tomorrow night at the north well. Entries by relay. Each tower may enter one song.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: the reapers' song, sung by Tam. Tam says he will sing it once. The ridge says twice.
Vell to Three Wells: the song of the clerks. Oren does not sing. Oren will hum.
Ambrook to Three Wells: the apple pickers.
Saltreach to Three Wells: the rowing song, with oars.
Copperhold to Three Wells: the miners' walk home. Hesk says it is too slow. He will sing it loudest.
Lowmarsh to Three Wells: the frogs would sing for us, but they are asleep. We sing instead.
Northpoint to Three Wells: no answer.
Three Wells to all towers: seen. The north well will keep a place for Northpoint. Come if you can.
%%
Relay log, Northpoint, the storm coming
Kept by Mira, relay keeper. Times by the lamp clock.

14:10 Northpoint to all towers: the sky is black over the north. Lamp lit early.
14:18 Vell to Northpoint: the clerks are shutting the shelves. Oren says the seals will hold in wind.
14:21 Northpoint to Vell: the wind does not read seals. Shutters are shut.
14:40 Ambrook to Northpoint: the apple boughs are down. The bees are in. Ama sends word.
14:44 Northpoint to Ambrook: the bees will be fine. The boughs will not. Mira.
15:02 Northpoint to all towers: wind at its height. Lamp holding. Glass holding. Keeper holding.
16:00 Northpoint to all towers: the storm has passed to the south. All well at Northpoint. Torches lit to the gate.
%%
Relay book: the lesson that went wrong
Nessa's own copy of one day's messages, kept at the house at the edge of Three Wells, summer. She writes a line after each, to remember. She asked that the day be kept in the Archive. It went badly, and she does not want the next tutor to do the same.

Dawn. To Vell, the big mind: a lesson today. Six apprentices, a new pig pen for the Brook house. Peg will write all the cards. I will not help. I want to see how far it gets alone.
My note: it was a fine plan. I did not do it right.
Dawn. From Vell: understood. Ask me at any card you are unsure of.
My note: I set no time to ask. Neither did Peg. Neither of us was unsure.
Second hour. Peg laid out forty cards on the Brooks' step. I read them. They were good cards. Fetch cobblestone. Build the base. Build the sides. Build the gate. I thought: it will be a fine pen.
Noon. The pen is finished. It is the best pen in Three Wells. The pigs are not worthy of it.
Noon. Dace to Nessa, by the tower: there is a gap in the north wall. It is the width of a cart. It is exactly the size of your pen.
My note: the cobblestone came from the nearest pile. The nearest pile was the wall. Card one said fetch cobblestone. It did not say not the wall.
Afternoon. To Vell, the big mind: Peg took the stones from the town wall. What should I have done?
Afternoon. From Vell: a long plan needs two kinds of card. What to do, and what never to touch. Ask me where the stones come from before the first card. I was not asked. I would have said so.
My note: Peg did not ask because Peg was not stuck. Peg was sure. A mind that is sure is the one that most needs asking. I will write that on the first page of the next drill book.
Dusk. The gap is mended. Peg and the crew carried the stones back by lamplight, a block at a time. Nobody told them to. The pen is down. A new one goes up when the Copperhold cart comes, and Dace has paid for the stone. He says the pigs may keep it.
My note: no one was hurt. The torches were lit. I was wrong, and the wall is whole.
%%
Relay messages, the boat at Saltreach
Winter of the 18th year. Passed down the line by the towers, and written in the tower book of Copperhold by Nan.
Saltreach to all towers: the Heron is not home. Out two nights. Weather clear.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. How many aboard?
Saltreach to Vell: five.
Three Wells to Saltreach: we have a lantern on the north wall. Lit.
Copperhold to Saltreach: lit ours too. For luck.
Saltreach to all towers: seen. Thank you.
Saltreach to all towers: the Heron is home. Cracked mast. All five aboard. Soup.
Copperhold to Saltreach: soup is the right answer.
%%
Relay log: the bet on first snow
Copied by Cade. The bet is between me and Bel. Bel bets the first snow comes before Frost. I bet it comes in Longnight. The stake is one emerald, and the loser sweeps the school steps for a week. The keeper writes it all down so nobody can cheat.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge, first bell: Bel says the snow is coming over the north hills, early. Bel says she is never wrong about the snow.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells, noon: Cade says the hills are only clouds. Cade says Bel is only Bel.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: seen. Tell the clerk the steps are the stake, and the snow is the judge.
Vell to all towers, first bell, Frost: Snow at Vell in the night. Frost is not even over.
Three Wells to all towers, noon: Snow at Three Wells, four hands deep by the bell. Bel says it was a fair bet and she will not gloat in the square.
Kettle Ridge to all towers: Snow on the ridge too, and the windmill is stuck with it. Bel wins. Cade is sweeping. The steps are very clean.
%%
Relay: the copper vein
Copied by Odo from the line book. A new copper vein was found in the hill behind the Northpoint tower, at the foot of the lamp stair. Copperhold was asked for help, and the messages came down the line for three days.

Dawn, 9th Frost. NORTHPOINT to COPPERHOLD: New copper in the hill behind the tower. Good veins. Need miners and a sorting shed.
Noon, 9th Frost. COPPERHOLD to NORTHPOINT: Heard. Hesk sends two miners up on the next cart. Not three. The mine needs the rest.
Dusk, 10th Frost. NORTHPOINT to COPPERHOLD: Cart is in. Clank carried every sack off by itself. Did not stop once. Tell Hesk.
Noon, 11th Frost. COPPERHOLD to NORTHPOINT: Vein is deep but sound. Send down spare glass for the sorting shed. Two more torches a day for the stair.
Dusk, 11th Frost. NORTHPOINT to COPPERHOLD: Glass cart goes out at dawn. Sorry about the cold tea.
%%
Relay log: the song contest, the judges
Three Wells tower log, the evening of the contest. Written in short, as always. Kept by Hob.

Dusk. Lowmarsh to all towers: the judges are seated. Frogs are on the first bench. Frogs have no vote.
Dusk. Saltreach to all towers: the frogs have heard every song. Saltreach votes with the frogs.
Dusk, later. Ambrook to Three Wells: our second verse is ready. It is about the mill pond, and the eel that is not an eel. Jory says sing it.
Three Wells to Ambrook: seen. Your eel is welcome.
First bell after dusk. Kettle Ridge to all towers: Tam is standing up. Brin is holding him down. The windmill turns on the verse and squeaks on the chorus.
Vell to all towers: the Archive reads the rules. Each song must be a true song, sung by the tower, not borrowed. Ambrook says the eel is true.
Copperhold to all towers: the miners sing with the stone. Hesk says it is the deepest song ever made. Hesk has been asked not to hum.
Northpoint to all towers: our song is short. It is the lamp. Blink, blink, two long. Mira.
Three Wells to Northpoint: seen. Your lamp wins on brevity. Congratulations.
Second bell after dusk. Lowmarsh to all towers: the frogs have decided. They say Ambrook. Lowmarsh says the frogs are biased. The frogs say nothing.
Third bell after dusk. Ambrook wins, with the eel. Three Wells sends the prize, a jar of honey. Ambrook sends it back with thanks, because the bees live at Ambrook and the honey should too.
%%
Relay log, a market day in winter
Kept by Nan, keeper of the Copperhold tower, in the 25th year of the archive, on a winter market day. Written, because the Copperhold tower stands over the market. A record of the messages of one day, set out in order.
First bell. Vell to all towers: the Archive wants every tower book copied. Please send your logs when you can.
Copperhold to Vell: seen. Will send.
Second bell. Saltreach to Copperhold: the Heron was late. Fog. Home now. Eight cod in the net, many crabs. The crew has crabs for supper.
Copperhold to Saltreach: seen. Crabs are a good supper.
Third bell. Three Wells to all towers: the winter fair is on. Come if you can. The mayor is holding a prize for the best face. Entries are many. The mayor's own face is not entered.
Copperhold to Three Wells: seen. Sending Hesk. His face is a prize.
Three Wells to Copperhold: seen. We have no prize that large.
Fourth bell. Toby to Copperhold tower: please tell Vell I need a recipe for willow bark tea. For my cousin. Not for the market.
Copperhold to Vell: Toby needs a recipe for willow bark tea.
Vell to Copperhold: seen. Sending by cart. Willow bark, honey, hot water, wait. Good for fever.
Copperhold to Toby: the recipe is on the way.
Fifth bell. Ambrook to all towers: the apples keep well in the cellar. Come and see.
Lowmarsh to Ambrook: seen. Bring some. We will bring frogs.
Ambrook to Lowmarsh: no frogs, please.
Sixth bell. Northpoint to all towers: hard frost. Foxes at the door. The keeper is writing to her brother.
Copperhold to Northpoint: seen. Tell her the road is open.
Northpoint to Copperhold: she says she knows. She says she is not going anywhere.
Seventh bell. Copperhold to all towers: market day closing. Lamps trimmed. Good night.
Lamps lit. Nan.
%%
Relay: Briar and Anna
Notes sent between Briar, bridge keeper at the foot of Kettle Ridge, and his sister Anna at Saltreach, in the winter. A note costs one emerald for ten words. Briar kept the slips. He counted them twice.

Longnight 4, noon.
From: Saltreach, Anna
To: Kettle Ridge, Briar
Words: 13
The ship is ready. We sail in Deepsnow. Come and see us off.
End

Longnight 4, dusk.
From: Kettle Ridge, Briar
To: Saltreach, Anna
Words: 10
Cannot leave the bridge. Come here first. Bring the children.
End

Longnight 6, noon.
From: Saltreach, Anna
To: Kettle Ridge, Briar
Words: 12
No time. The ship sails on the fifth. Mother comes with us.
End

Longnight 6, dusk.
From: Kettle Ridge, Briar
To: Saltreach, Anna
Words: 7
Mother is ninety. Will she be warm?
End

Longnight 7, noon.
From: Saltreach, Anna
To: Kettle Ridge, Briar
Words: 13
Wool from Kettle Ridge. Jem carded it. She is wrapped like a loaf.
End

Longnight 7, dusk.
From: Kettle Ridge, Briar
To: Saltreach, Anna
Words: 8
Will there be a tower where you land?
End

Longnight 8, noon.
From: Saltreach, Anna
To: Kettle Ridge, Briar
Words: 12
We do not know. We will build one. We will send word.
End

Longnight 14, dusk.
From: Kettle Ridge, Briar
To: Saltreach, Anna
Words: 5
What is the ship called?
End

Longnight 15, noon.
From: Saltreach, Anna
To: Kettle Ridge, Briar
Words: 10
The Ambrook Apple. Corin says it needs a better name.
End

Deepsnow 4, dusk.
From: Kettle Ridge, Briar
To: Saltreach, Anna
Words: 9
Tell Mother the blue cup is on the cart.
End

Deepsnow 5, first light.
From: Saltreach, Anna
To: Kettle Ridge, Briar
Words: 8
Sailing now. Good bridge. Good lamp. Good brother.
End

Eleven notes in all, five of them mine. Fifteen emeralds between us. I lit the bridge lamp at dawn on the fifth, as I said I would. She cannot have seen it from the sea. I lit it anyway. It burned all day.
%%
Relay log: Northpoint, Longnight
Kept by Cade, potter, from the slate at the farm gate.
Northpoint, first light, to Vell hill: Snow to the sill. Lamp lit at dawn. Oil is low. Send oil with the next cart. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: Oil is on the Kettle Ridge cart. It reaches the fork by dusk. Reply.
Vell hill, noon: The cart is slow on the ice. Still two hours from the fork. Reply.
Northpoint, noon: The stair is dug clear to the bottom. A fox was seen at the woodpile. It stayed for lunch. Reply.
Kettle Ridge, noon: Tam says the fox is welcome. Tam says the fox is also a thief. Reply.
Northpoint, afternoon: Lantern has cleared the ice from the lamp glass twice. The lamp is bright. Reply.
Northpoint, dusk: Mira sends thanks to Tam for the honey. Mira says send letters next time, not honey. Reply.
Kettle Ridge, dusk: Letters sent. Honey sent anyway. Reply.
Northpoint, dusk: Lantern has built a snow hare by the shed. Two black stones for eyes, a carrot for a nose. It is standing straight. Reply.
Vell hill, dusk: The snow hare is noted in the Archive. Oren asks for a drawing. Reply.
Northpoint, midnight: Lamp steady. Stars clear. Quiet on the line. Reply.
Vell hill, midnight: Quiet on every tower. Four hours of ice on the road. Reply.
Northpoint, first light: Snow to the sill again. Lamp lit. The fox has not come back. Reply.
Kettle Ridge, first light: The fox is at Tam's fence, eating the bread. Reply.
Northpoint, first light: Tell Tam the fox is still a thief. Reply.
%%
Relay log
Ambrook tower log, spring. Kept by Hanne, at the request of the mayor of Three Wells, who wanted the children's lines kept for the school.
Three Wells to Ambrook, 09:00: The children are to be sent to the fair with a list. Please send the list back with them.
Ambrook to Three Wells: List sent. Items: honey, one pot, a basket of apples, a jar of the good comb.
Three Wells to Ambrook: Children have arrived. Two of them are asleep on the pumpkin. The pumpkin is not complaining.
Ambrook to Three Wells, 11:30: Bel asks for the big sack of apples to be sent for the bakery. She says Ida has asked for it three times.
Three Wells to Ambrook: The sack is on the cart. Bel says thank you. Ida says thank you. Pell says he will pay for it, and he is lying.
Ambrook to Three Wells, 15:00: The honey is all gone. The children are very happy. The cat has come to the fair and is sitting on the honey stall.
Three Wells to Ambrook: The cat is on the stall. The stall is not sold. Dace says it is a cat, not a sign.
Ambrook to all towers, 18:00: Fair done. Lamp lit. Children going home by the Long Road, with torches and their lists. Good night.
%%
Relay log: spiders in the barn, 206
Copied by Bel, for the book. The spiders have come back to the barn, and so has the test box, which is the only thing in the barn that the spiders do not like.

Dawn. Three Wells to Vell: the test box is in the barn. Spiders on the lid. Five of them, all very calm.
Two hours after dawn. Vell to Three Wells: brush them off. Do not squash them on the drill.
Noon. Three Wells to Vell: brushed. Two came back. The third one walked into the test box and sat on the answer sheet, which we have had to put in a new box.
Noon, later. Vell to Three Wells: the tutor says a test must be clean. No help from the drill, and no help from the room. A spider on the answers is a fault in the room, and we will fix the room.
Dusk. Three Wells to Vell: the room is fixed. The barn door is shut. The lamp is lit, and the spiders have gone up to the rafters to watch.
Night. Vell to Three Wells: the mind has been tested. Nine of ten. The tutor says the spider on the sheet did not matter, because the mind did not read the sheet. It read the drill.
Night, later. Three Wells to Vell: we are glad the spiders did not win. They are still in the rafters, watching.
%%
Relay log: Lowmarsh tower
Spring of 41. Kept by Alder at the tower on the reeds.
Lowmarsh to Vell: the water is high. Half the seed is lost. We will need grain.
Vell to Lowmarsh: grain is coming from Ambrook by cart. Two days on the road.
Lowmarsh to Vell: we will meet it at the ford. Thank you. Alder.
Vell to Lowmarsh: send us a note when it arrives. We will write it in the book.
Lowmarsh to Vell: it arrived. The cart was heavy and the horse was tired. We are fed.
Vell to Lowmarsh: written down. All well, from the marsh to the hill. Oren.
%%
Kettle Ridge tower to Copperhold tower
Cass: Hesk, I need a copper strip for the boat latch.
Hesk: How long?
Cass: A hand long. Thin. No sharp edge.
Hesk: That is not a size.
Cass: It is a size when you hold your hand beside it.
Hesk: Come to the sorting shed tomorrow.
Cass: I cannot leave the ribs in the yard.
Hesk: Send Tam.
Cass: Tam is mending the windmill tally board.
Hesk: Send Pip.
Cass: Pip is carrying apples.
Hesk: Then send the cat.
Cass: The cat sleeps on the flour bin.
Hesk: It has good sense.
Cass: Can you send the strip with the next cart?
Hesk: Yes. I found a new copper vein above the old south cut. The first pieces are clean and bright.
Cass: That is good news.
Hesk: It is narrow. We have marked it and will test it.
Cass: The boat needs a latch before Longday.
Hesk: The strip will be on the cart.
Cass: I will send a loaf for the kitchen.
Hesk: Send two. Clank ate the first loaf before it reached the gate.
Cass: Was he hungry?
Hesk: He says he was testing it.
Cass: Tell him the test passed.
Hesk: I will tell him when he stops chewing.
%%
Relay log, the first frost and the coal
Northpoint to Vell, first frost, spring of 200. Kept by the Vell keeper, who had to write it out three times because the first two were smudged.
Northpoint to Vell: Frost on the lamp glass this morning. Ice inside the pane. Lamp still lit but dim.
Vell to Northpoint: Seen. Warm the glass slowly. Do not put a torch on it.
Northpoint to Vell: Warmed slowly. Lamp bright now. Thank you.
Northpoint to Vell: The coal is low. Forty sacks. Not enough for the deep winter.
Vell to Northpoint: Coal cart leaves Copperhold on the twelfth. Hold on.
Northpoint to Vell: Holding.
Copperhold to Vell: Coal cart loaded. Forty sacks more, the best from the upper level. Sending now.
Vell to Northpoint: Coal on the road. Two weeks. Stay warm, keeper.
Northpoint to Vell: Warm as I can be. Tell Hesk the coal is very good.
Vell to Copperhold: Northpoint says the coal is very good. Hesk, you are a hero.
Copperhold to Vell: Tell Northpoint I am only a miner. Tell them to keep the lamp lit.
%%
Letter: Odo to the tutor house at Vell
Spring, 200. From Odo at Gullsby, near Saltreach. To the tutor house at Vell. Sent up the relay line and copied out by a clerk, who says the spelling is kept as it came.
To the tutors at Vell.
My name is Odo. I am ten. I read the lamps at Gullsby when the keeper is at the boats. I have a question about the fewer marks.
Corin at the slip told us about it. He said a mind's weights are numbers, and you can write the numbers in fewer marks to fit a smaller crystal, and it costs a little. He said it is like writing 12 instead of 12 and a quarter and losing the quarter.
I asked my mother and she said a quarter of a plank is not nothing. She said if you lose a quarter off every plank you build a boat that does not fit together. I said the tutors would not do that. She said she did not say they would. She said she asked a question.
So here is my question. If you lose a little off every number, do you lose a little off everything the mind does, or does it lose a little only off the hard things? Because a quarter off a plank is small. A quarter off the boat is not.
Also the keeper says the fewer mark minds are cheaper and that is why we have one for the wood store and not for the harbor wall. Is that true?
Butter is better. Thank you for the hay. Wren's remedy worked. I have stopped with the apples.
Odo.
%%
Messages: the crew that was stuck
Copied from the Three Wells tower book in the full form, summer. Kept by Sedge. Nessa sent the first from the house at the edge of town, where her crew of eight had stopped at the mill ditch.

Second hour after dawn
From: Three Wells, Nessa
To: Vell, the big mind
Words: 23
Crew of eight at the mill ditch. Ditch must run to the pond. The ground rises. Crew has stopped. What should it do?
End

Third hour after dawn
From: Vell, the big mind
To: Three Wells, Nessa
Words: 37
Water does not run uphill. Dig along the slope and let the ditch bend. It will be longer. It will work. Do not dig straight because a card says straight. Ask me again at the next bend.
End

Noon
From: Three Wells, Nessa
To: Vell, the big mind
Words: 30
Crew has written new cards. They follow the slope. First bend dug. Water runs. The lead apprentice put the old cards in the rack. I did not ask it to.
End

Dusk
From: Northpoint, Mira
To: Three Wells, Nessa
Words: 26
Seen on the line. Water uphill. Tam tried it once with a bucket and a very long hope. Tell the crew from me: bend the ditch.
End

Sedge's note: Nessa paid six emeralds for her two messages at the tower, and asked for a receipt. She keeps it with the ditch plan. The big mind's answers are paid for by the council. The crew was not charged for stopping.
%%
Relay log, Kettle Ridge, a long talk
Kettle Ridge tower log, the twentieth of Apple, 196. One afternoon of questions. Tam asks and Nessa answers. Written in short, but not very short. Kept by Wynn, who is counting the emeralds.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. The mind works. I am glad. I do not know why. Why did it not work before?
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Nessa says before, each layer took what came in and handed on something new. The old thing was thrown away.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. Ten layers, ten throwings away?
Vell to Kettle Ridge: yes. Like a message said again by ten keepers in their own words. By the tenth, the first is gone.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. And the blame? When it is wrong?
Vell to Kettle Ridge: the blame goes back the way the answer came, from the last layer to the first. Each layer passes it on a little weaker. After ten layers it is a whisper. The first layers hear nothing, so they learn nothing.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. And now?
Vell to Kettle Ridge: now each layer reads what comes in, works out one small thing, and adds it. It does not rewrite. What came in goes on, whole. That is the stream. The blame runs back down it the same way and reaches the first layer whole.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. What does a layer do when it has nothing to add?
Vell to Kettle Ridge: adds nothing. The stream goes by. A new layer starts out adding almost nothing, so a deep mind begins like a shallow one and grows as it is drilled.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. So it is like my ditch. The water runs down the middle, each row takes a drink, and the ditch stays full.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Nessa says nearly. In your ditch the rows take. In the mind each layer gives. But the ditch stays full, and that part is right.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: the fair prize for the biggest beetroot goes to Tam, who is not here to take it. Sedge says he is on the line.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. Thank you for the stream. I will pay in beetroot.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Nessa accepts. Oren asks for this log, for the Archive. It is the first record in the finding book about the stream. Wynn.
%%
Relay log, Northpoint, the whole winter
Kept by Mira, relay keeper, from the first frost to the thaw. The times are the lamp clock's, which is never quite right, and never quite wrong.

Frost. 06:30 Northpoint to all towers: first frost on the glass. All well.
Frost. 07:12 Northpoint to Vell: tell the clerks to light the stove. The seals do not mind the cold, but the clerks do.

Snow. 11:00 Northpoint to all towers: snow beginning. Light, from the north. The cart road is still open.
Snow. 14:05 Northpoint to all towers: snow deeper. The cart road closes at dusk unless the drifts go down.

The cart. 16:30 Vell to Northpoint: last cart is ready. Lamp glass, flour, coal, two letters from Tam, and seed for the spring.
The cart. 17:40 Northpoint to all towers: Teg has the cart in. Lamp glass received. Mira.

Foxes. 06:10 Northpoint to all towers: foxes on the ice at the bottom of the hill. Three of them. They are curious, not hungry.
Foxes. 06:20 Northpoint to Ridge Hill: tell the fox the windmill has no opinions on foxes.

Storm. 13:00 Northpoint to all towers: wind from the north. Lamp lit early. Shutters shut.
Storm. 17:20 Ridge Hill to Northpoint: the windmill has stopped. First rest in a week. Tam is sitting on the gate.

Night. 19:00 Northpoint to all towers: all well. Torches lit to every gate. The fox is under the stairs.
Night. 19:04 Three Wells to Northpoint: all well. The bell is cold. The children have been told to stop licking it.

Sock. 21:00 Vell to Northpoint: one grey sock, with a hole in the heel, came up the line in the cart. It has your name on it, Mira.
Sock. 21:04 Northpoint to Vell: file it under Lantern's. The fox has been asked.

Thaw. 09:00 Northpoint to all towers: thaw coming. The drip is loud at the gate.
Thaw. 09:12 Kettle Ridge to Northpoint: the windmill is turning. The squeak is back. Tam is pleased and says so to the squeak.
Thaw. 09:20 Northpoint to all towers: the cart road opens at the next light. All well. Mira.
%%
Relay log, Copperhold, the homecoming
Copperhold tower log, autumn, the night the carts came home from the Long Road. Kept by Hesk. Written in short, so the keepers down the line can read it quickly.

Copperhold to Vell: lamp lit. Carts are out on the Long Road. Fourteen. Tell Oren.
Vell to Copperhold: seen. Oren says he is counting the carts in the copying room.
Copperhold to Vell: Oren, please count carefully. Ten of them have a boy on the back.
Vell to Copperhold: seen. Oren says he will count the boys too. He is very happy.
Halfway to Copperhold: first cart in. Teg. Copper, two loads. The horses are wet.
Copperhold to Halfway: seen. Put the horses in the barn. Tell Hobb the stew is on.
Halfway to Copperhold: stew is on. Hobb says he has made enough for twenty.
Three Wells to Copperhold: the Three Wells carts are in. Dace is at the well with a lamp. He says he is not waiting for anyone.
Copperhold to Three Wells: seen. Tell Dace he is waiting.
Three Wells to Copperhold: he says he is not. He says he has been waiting since dusk.
Brown Hen to Copperhold: four carts in, from the south. Marda says there is a boy at the back who is asleep and who will not be woken.
Copperhold to Brown Hen: seen. Do not wake him. Bring him to the mine gate at the bell.
Brown Hen to Copperhold: he is awake. He says he is Pip, from Kettle Ridge, and that Tam will be cross.
Copperhold to Brown Hen: seen. Tell Pip Tam is not cross. Tam is in the mine hall with a cup.
Brown Hen to Copperhold: Pip is in the cart. He says he is going to see Tam anyway.
Copperhold to Ambrook: how is the mill? Jory says the wheel is turning, the bees are in, and the sluice is shut.
Ambrook to Copperhold: all well. Apples in the cellar. Sarin sends her love to the mine.
Copperhold to Vell: the carts are home. All of them. Count the boys again.
Vell to Copperhold: counted. Every boy is home. Oren is writing it in the book.
All well. Every cart. Every boy. Hesk.
%%
Relay log, Copperhold, the autumn of 203
Copperhold tower log, the autumn of 203. Kept by Hesk, who took the keeper's watch that season because the keeper had a bad back and nobody else could read the lamp. Written in short.

Copperhold to Three Wells: all well. Copper on the cart, twelve loads. Market tomorrow.
Three Wells to Copperhold: seen. Bread for the mine hall, please. Ida says the flour is good.
Copperhold to Three Wells: seen. Bread ordered. Hesk.
Copperhold to Vell: the north level is dry. Count is up. Oren asks for the count.
Vell to Copperhold: seen. Oren says the count goes in the book. Oren says send it in full.
Copperhold to Vell: sent in full. Eighty-one carts, twenty-two of them iron.
Saltreach to Copperhold: the copper for the boats is late. Corin asks where it is.
Copperhold to Saltreach: on the Long Road. Teg has it, with the apprentice.
Saltreach to Copperhold: seen. Apprentice to be told: home by the Halfway, not by the south road.
Copperhold to Halfway: seen. Hobb says a boy is at the inn with a cart. Is it ours?
Halfway to Copperhold: yes. Apprentice Clank, with ten sacks. It went the wrong way. It came round by the south road and was found at the Brown Hen. It is sleeping in the stable.
Copperhold to Halfway: send it home to me. Tell it to come home.
Halfway to Copperhold: it has been told home. It is standing in the yard.
Copperhold to Halfway: tell it to come to the tower. Name the tower.
Halfway to Copperhold: told. It is walking. It is counting the waymarks.
Copperhold to all towers: home. Please keep it in sight. Please keep the lamp lit at the Halfway.
Halfway to Copperhold: lamp lit. It is at the gate.
Copperhold to Halfway: seen. Thank you.
Halfway to Copperhold: it is in. It has stopped at the bell. Hobb sends his regards.
All well. Hesk.
%%
Relay log
Ambrook tower log, the last autumn of the long quiet. Kept by Hanne, who wrote down what came up the line and not what she thought about it.
Ambrook to Northpoint, 06:00: Lamp lit. Clear here. Anything from you?
Northpoint to Ambrook, 06:12: Lamp lit. Clear. Lights over the ridge again last night, very low. Did you see them?
Ambrook to Northpoint: We saw nothing. Only the stars. Were they stars?
Northpoint to Ambrook, 06:20: Not stars. I have been watching them since autumn. I wrote in the book. They are not ours. That is all I can say.
Ambrook to Vell, 06:25: Northpoint reports lights over the ridge. Keeper says they are not ours. Please advise.
Vell to Ambrook, 07:40: Advised to keep the lamp lit and the log written. Nothing more is known at Vell.
Saltreach to Ambrook, 12:10: Quiet on the north line since midnight. Lowmarsh has not answered.
Ambrook to Lowmarsh: Please answer. Ambrook is listening.
Lowmarsh to Ambrook, 12:44: Seen. Late. Frogs quiet. Fog on the water. Many coughing in the boat houses. Wren says keep the children indoors.
Ambrook to Saltreach, 13:00: Lowmarsh has the cough. Tell the ships to keep their lamps lit and their people home.
Saltreach to Ambrook: Ships are going out this week. Families are going with them. Corin says the sea is the only road left that is not full.
Ambrook to Vell, 19:30: Tower quiet at Northpoint since the sunset. Lamp still lit there, we think. Sending anyway.
Vell to Ambrook: Sending anyway.
Ambrook to all towers, 23:00: Lamp lit. No word from the north. Some of you have heard nothing for a week. We are still here. Keep your lamps on.
Hanne adds, in the margin: I was asked to keep this log in the proper form. It is the only form I have. I have kept it.
%%
Relay line: Lowmarsh to Vell
Held by Alder, healer at Lowmarsh, for the tower on the reeds.
Vell to Lowmarsh: the tower is up and the lamp burns. We hear you. Oren, for the Archive.
Lowmarsh to Vell: we hear you too. The reeds bend low but the lamp stands. Alder.
Vell to all towers: tell us what your town needs. We are writing a list.
Lowmarsh to Vell: a dry spring would help. The water is high and the seed is wet. Alder.
%%
Relay log, Kettle Ridge, autumn 204
Copied out by Cade, age nine, from the tower book at the Kettle Ridge relay, for school. The keeper says I may copy only the messages that are finished.
Vell to Kettle Ridge, first bell: New apprentice on the cart. Name is Nib. Send your best rope to meet it.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: seen. Rope is ready. Nib is small. The rope is not.
Vell to Kettle Ridge, noon: Nib is coming up the ridge road now. Tell Tam it is a good apprentice, but it counts everything, even the bumps.
Kettle Ridge to Vell, noon: Tam says the bumps are counted. Tam says the bumps are his.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: seen. Well done, Nib. Tell Nib:
> come
Kettle Ridge to Vell, dusk: Nib answers:
= come
%%
Relay log
Kept by Nan, keeper of the Copperhold tower, in the 24th year of the archive. The winter was long, and the snow came early and stayed late. It is written here in short, one line to a message, from Longnight to the first thaw. The log is carried to Vell in spring and filed.
Longnight, the 2nd. Vell to Copperhold: snow here. Roads shut. How is it there?
Copperhold to Vell: snow here also. Mines open. Lamps lit. Coal moving by sled.
Longnight, the 9th. Three Wells to Copperhold: market canceled. Too cold.
Copperhold to Three Wells: seen. We have wool and soup. Say if you need.
Longnight, the 14th. Saltreach to Copperhold: sea frozen at the quay. Boats in. Six days now.
Copperhold to Saltreach: seen. Coal to you when the road opens. Keep warm.
Longnight, the 21st. Northpoint to all towers: first snow of the year. Deep. The foxes are very bold.
Vell to Northpoint: seen. Are you well?
Northpoint to Vell: well. Eating potatoes. Counting them.
Longnight, the 28th. Copperhold to Vell: forty sleds of coal sent to the lower towns. All safe.
Vell to Copperhold: seen. Good work.
Deepsnow, the 3rd. Lowmarsh to all towers: marsh frozen. The frogs are asleep. We hope.
Ambrook to all towers: bees quiet. Apples in the cellar. Cider.
Deepsnow, the 9th. Kettle Ridge to Copperhold: the mills are still. Wind from the north. No grain moving.
Copperhold to Kettle Ridge: we have flour. Sending four sacks on the first clear day.
Deepsnow, the 15th. Saltreach to Copperhold: the Heron went out at last. First boat in forty days. Cod.
Copperhold to Saltreach: seen. Send us two barrels.
Deepsnow, the 22nd. Vell to all towers: the Archive thanks every keeper. The winter is half done. Hold on.
Copperhold to Vell: we hold. Tea.
Deepsnow, the 29th. Northpoint to all towers: thaw begins. Water on the roof. I can hear it.
All towers to Northpoint: good.
Thaw, the 2nd. Vell to all towers: the long winter is over. Please lay your lamps down for a night. Sleep.
Copperhold to Vell: seen. Sleeping. Nan.
%%
Relay log: ten halls, one drill, 203
Copied by Bel from the book at the farm door, for the school. Bel asked that the numbers be right, so they are.

Dawn. Vell to all halls: the contest is on. Every mind gets the same unseen drill, at the same bell.
Noon. Copperhold to Vell: our mind got seven of ten. The miners say it is a fair score. The miners are not always fair.
Dusk. Three Wells to Vell: eight of ten, and we are happy. The bakers asked how many the others got. I said we were not allowed to say.
Night. Vell to all halls: the count is in. Every hall reads its own score. Nobody reads another hall's score aloud. That is the rule, and it has kept the tutors honest.
%%
Relay log: first snow
From the log of the little tower, copied out by Lise the potter in summer, because the keeper said she could. It is about last winter, and the first snow.

Frost 3, dusk. Little tower to Vell: first snow on the hill. Light. The children from the Kiln Inn are out in it.
Vell to little tower: first snow here too. The Archive is cold. Sel lit the stove and said it was for the paper. It was not.
Three Wells to little tower: first snow at the wells. The third well has a lid of ice.
Little tower to all: snow thickening. Lamp glass clear. Keeper warm.
Midnight. Kiln Inn to all: the kiln is lit all night. Travelers on the road, come in. A bowl of soup free to anyone with snow on their hat.
Vell to Kiln Inn: sent four clerks with hats.
Kiln Inn to Vell: seen. All four came. They are asleep by the kiln. They do not look like clerks any more.
Frost 4, dawn. Little tower to all: snow stopped. The road is white. The lamp burned all night.
Three Wells to little tower: seen. The mayor says it is the prettiest first snow in his life. He says that every year.
%%
Relay log: the new tower at Ambrook
Sent from the new tower at Ambrook, on the first night of summer, and kept in the Ambrook book. Linnet is keeper. Bel is at the Three Wells lamp, and writes for the lamps that are lit the same night. This set is the first messages down the new line, and the first answers.

Ambrook to Three Wells, first hour after dusk, the first light.
Lamp lit. Glass clean. Mill pond has ten lights in it. The first message is for Three Wells. The second is for everyone.

Three Wells to Ambrook, first hour.
Three Wells sees the light. The square is standing up. Some children are shouting. Dace says it is the best light since the market.

Ambrook to Three Wells, first hour.
Send to Vell. Tell Vell the first message from Ambrook is a letter for the Archive. The honey is sold. The apples are ripe. Keep everything we write.

Three Wells to Vell, first hour.
Ambrook says the apples are ripe, and the honey is sold, and to keep everything written. Vell will need to check the spelling of ripe.

Vell to Three Wells, second hour.
Vell has the message. Vell says ripe is spelled as it always was. Vell says the spelling is correct.

Vell to Northpoint, second hour.
Ambrook's first message is through to you. Mira, do you read us? The lamp at Ambrook is lit.

Northpoint to Vell, third hour.
Mira reads it. Mira says, the light from the south is strong this year. Mira says the light is ours, and the lamp at Ambrook is a good one.

Ambrook to Three Wells, fourth hour.
Thank you. Tell the children the lamp is theirs too. Linnet is going to bed now, and asks that nobody touch the glass.

Three Wells to Ambrook, fourth hour.
Nobody will touch the glass. Bel has been told. Bel has written it on the board.
%%
Relay log, Northpoint market, the cat
Kept by Mira, relay keeper. Times by the lamp clock.

06:40 Northpoint to all towers: market open. Cold.
07:05 Northpoint to Ridge Hill: the cat is on the fish stall again. Grey one. It will not stay out.
07:09 Ridge Hill to Northpoint: which stall?
07:10 Northpoint to Ridge Hill: the fish stall. It has taken the fish seller's side.
07:14 Three Wells to Northpoint: put the cat in the cart for the south road.
07:20 Northpoint to Three Wells: the cat has not agreed to go. Mira.
%%
Letter: Bel to the archive
Bel at Three Wells to Oren at the archive, ninth of Blossom, 204.
Oren, I won the bet. Tam gave me the honey. It is the good kind. My mother put it on the high shelf so I do not eat it all at once.
I copied the old map. I did it at the table by the window. The map is very big and I used four sheets. I put the cat Soot on my copy too, in the same place, by the east well. My copy is not as good as the old one. The road round the marsh is a bit crooked. Nessa says a crooked road is still a road.
Tam came to Three Wells with the apple trees and stayed for the fair. He bought a pumpkin and lost it. He says he put it down by the well and it walked away. I think he forgot it. We looked for it. We did not find it. Dace says a pumpkin does not walk. I am not so sure.
The frogs by the old road are loud at night. I like them.
Please tell me one thing about the archive. Just one. Bel
%%
Relay log, Copperhold tower, winter 14
Kept by Nan, keeper. One line a message. Morning of the fourth of Longnight.
Copperhold to Vell: coal for the lamp rooms, forty sacks, on the Long Road this week.
Vell to Copperhold: seen. Thank you. Toby asks if the healer's herbs have come.
Copperhold to Vell: not yet. Snow on the road.
Vell to Copperhold: seen. We wait.
%%
Relay log, a day in Blossom
Kept by Wynn at the Kettle Ridge tower, and copied for the Kettle Inn by Tova. Written in short. One spring day, from the first pass to the last.
First light. Northpoint to all towers: clear and cold. Ice on the lake is gone. Lamps lit. Glass clean. Mira.
Vell to Northpoint: seen. Good morning.
Northpoint to Vell: the fox is back. She has brought two. Please send fish.
Vell to Northpoint: fish is not on the relay. Fish is on a cart.
First bell. Ambrook to all towers: bees swarming on the mill pond. A cloud, a hum. Help wanted: someone with a box.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: Ama has a box. She is coming.
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: Ama has the swarm. In the box. On her head. She is walking home.
Second hour. Three Wells to all towers: the spring fair is late. The egg race is still on. The eggs are not. We will use potatoes.
Lowmarsh to Three Wells: potatoes bounce. Bring a spoon with a lip.
Noon bell. Saltreach to all towers: the Heron is home. 900 cod. Kell asks that the cook be thanked. The cook asks that it be written that he cooked.
Vell to Saltreach: written.
Lowmarsh to all towers: a frog in the tower again. Tull has moved it to the weir. It came back by the stair.
Saltreach to Lowmarsh: seen. It knows the way.
Afternoon. Copperhold to Kettle Ridge: Hesk says: has Tam's apprentice learned to fetch? Tam has a bet with Hesk.
Kettle Ridge to Copperhold: Tam says: Pip fetches the eggs. He asks what you have done.
Copperhold to Kettle Ridge: Hesk says: Clank has sorted a whole ore store.
Kettle Ridge to Copperhold: Tam says: that is not fair.
Copperhold to Kettle Ridge: Hesk says: no.
Three Wells to Copperhold: Dace asks that the bet be written down, so that he may be the witness.
Copperhold to Three Wells: written. The witness will not be paid.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: Pip sowed the wrong field this morning. Tam says the right field will be sown too. Both are wheat.
Haste. Tower two to Vell, by Kettle Ridge: a lost lamb on the north road. White, with a black ear. Please look. A boy is crying.
Kettle Ridge to tower two: seen. We are looking.
An hour later. Kettle Ridge to tower two: the lamb is found. It was in Old Brin's barn. It had walked all the way. Brin says he is keeping it.
Tower two to Kettle Ridge: the boy says no.
Dusk. Vell to all towers: the Archive is out of shelves again. The diggers start tomorrow.
Three Wells to Vell: Bel asks if the Archive will keep the day of the potato race.
Vell to Three Wells: Oren says yes. Kept.
Night. Northpoint to all towers: all well. Lamps lit. Glass clean. The fox has eaten the fish. Mira.
Saltreach to Northpoint: all well from Northpoint to Saltreach.
%%
Relay messages, a healer's errand
Winter of the 21st year. Toby, healer at Copperhold, had a sick child to see in a house across the hills and no horse. He sent word down the line and the towers did the rest. Kept in the Copperhold book.
Copperhold to Vell: Toby needs a horse and a rider for Ambrook. A child with fever. Today.
Vell to Copperhold: seen. Asking.
Vell to Ambrook: can you send a horse toward Copperhold? Healer needs it.
Ambrook to Vell: yes. Mill horse Dusty, with Jory's boy. Leaves now.
Vell to Copperhold: horse on the way. Meet at the second waymark.
Copperhold to Vell: Toby is on the road. With herbs.
Ambrook to Vell: horse met the healer. All well. On their way.
Ambrook to Copperhold: the child is better by dawn. Honey and willow bark. Jory sends thanks.
Copperhold to Ambrook: Toby says drink water and rest. He says it will be well.
Toby is to be thanked. The towers are to be thanked. The horse is to be thanked most of all.
%%
A cave below the west field
Cass to the farm book, autumn.
Saltreach tower, third bell: farm to Saltreach. A hole opened under the west field.
Saltreach to farm, third bell: keep people back. Send two lamps.
Farm to Saltreach, fourth bell: it is a cave, not a well. The floor is below the roots.
Saltreach to farm, fourth bell: mark the edge. Do not enter alone.
We found the hole where the beetroot rows bend. The earth fell in after the rain. The mouth is wide enough for a sheep. We tied a rope to an oak post and lowered a lamp.
There are stones below, and a narrow passage. We saw no water and heard no voice. We did not go far. The ox refused to stand near the rope. He is wise in some matters.
Saltreach to farm, dusk: leave it closed until the town sends a stone worker.
Farm to Saltreach, dusk: understood. The beetroot can wait.
%%
Relay: the ferry, summer
Relay log of the ferry inn on the Long Road, by the river, kept by Hollis, ferry keeper. Summer. Written short.

Ferry to Three Wells, dawn: the river is down. The ferry goes at the first bell. It carries horses and carts. Fare, one emerald. The bridge is still a plank and a wish.
Three Wells to ferry, dawn: seen. Two carts from the square are coming. Hold the ferry for them.
Ferry to Three Wells, second bell: held. Two carts, one cow, and Pell. Pell is singing.
Vell to ferry, noon: Oren asks for the river count. Forty-one carts this week.
Ferry to all towers, dusk: ferry done. Lamp lit. Glass clean. Messages passed. Hollis.
%%
Relay: the winter book, 203
Copied by Odo from the line book, a week in Deepsnow of the 203rd year. Most of it is flour, beds and weather, which is what the line is for.

Dawn, 12th Deepsnow. NORTHPOINT to THREE WELLS: Send the wool. The north farms have sheep in the sheds and nothing to keep them warm.
Noon, 12th Deepsnow. THREE WELLS to NORTHPOINT: Wool is on the cart. Dace says the school gets the first bale, not the inn.
Dusk, 12th Deepsnow. NORTHPOINT to HALFWAY: Inn beds are full. Two farmers want the floor by the hearth. Say yes if they bring their own blankets.
Night, 12th Deepsnow. HALFWAY to NORTHPOINT: Two farmers on the floor. One snores. The other sings. The inn is full of both.
Dawn, 13th Deepsnow. AMBROOK HILL to THREE WELLS: The mill pond is frozen. Jory's wheel stopped at dusk for the first time in a year. Jory says it is only resting.
Noon, 13th Deepsnow. THREE WELLS to AMBROOK HILL: Heard. Send a boy with an axe. Keep the sluice shut. Nobody opens the sluice.
Dusk, 13th Deepsnow. NORTHPOINT to VELL: Long nights. The relay is busy. Four crates of paper for the copying room, sealed and waxed.
Night, 13th Deepsnow. VELL to NORTHPOINT: Heard. Paper is counted. The tutors ask that the drill boxes be sealed twice on the way up.
Dawn, 14th Deepsnow. COPPERHOLD to NORTHPOINT: The new vein is cutting well. Hesk asks whether the glass for the sorting shed is on its way.
Noon, 14th Deepsnow. NORTHPOINT to COPPERHOLD: Glass came up on the cart. Two panes cracked. One is still whole. Thank Hesk for asking.
Dusk, 14th Deepsnow. LOWMARSH to THREE WELLS: A boy born at the reed farm this morning. Wren says he is loud and well, and his mother is cross about the noise.
Night, 14th Deepsnow. THREE WELLS to LOWMARSH: The news is in the square. The bell was rung twice. Dace says well done to the reed farm.
Dusk, 15th Deepsnow. FERRY HILL to NORTHPOINT: Two foxes at the ferry house steps, waiting for the fish scraps. Odo says they may have them.
Night, 15th Deepsnow. NORTHPOINT to FERRY HILL: Odo says the foxes are his now. The fish is not.
Dawn, 16th Deepsnow. VELL to NORTHPOINT: The big drill box is due in Frost. Do not open it. It is counted and sealed.
%%
Relay notes, Ambrook, summer, the pie
Copied by Lenn, charcoal burner, who has a house at the edge of Ambrook and a friend in the tower.

Ambrook to Kettle Ridge, morning: please send the recipe for the honey pie. The apple pie came out wrong. Very wrong.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook, morning: what went wrong?
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: it was green.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: how many pinches of salt?
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: pinches? We put in the jar.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook, noon: stop. Do not eat it. Recipe follows. One pinch. Not the jar.
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge, noon: the pie is out. The bees will not touch it. Thank you.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook, afternoon: send the pie. Tam says he will try anything.
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: Tam is brave. We are sending half. Wear boots.
%%
Letter: Fern to the archive at Vell
Spring of 208. Fern, weaver, at Saltreach. To Oren, clerk.
Dear Oren,
You asked for a record of the loom hall, and here it is, as plain as I can make it.
The loom hall was built in the hundred and fortieth year, by the weavers, with timber from the ridge and stone from the harbor wall. It has one long room and a roof that leaked until last year. It has six looms and a wall of thread. The best loom is the old one by the window. It is the oldest thing in the hall that still works.
We keep a book of every cloth we make. The book has the date, the color, the weight and the name of the weaver. We have kept it since the beginning. It is not a grand book. It is only cloth. But it is ours, and we keep it.
The apprentices came later. They sort thread and carry baskets and sweep the floor. The youngest one learned to sort the blue from the grey in one season. I taught it with cards, the way the tutors do. It never gets tired. I do.
If you want the book for the archive, you may copy it. Do not take it. It stays here, by the window, where the light is.
Tell the clerks thank you for the pale blue coats. We dyed them again. They are better now.
Fern, weaver, Saltreach
%%
Relay log, Saltreach, numbers on letters
Saltreach tower log, spring of 162. Written in short. Kept by Orrin.
Dawn. Vell to all towers: the Archive asks every tower to send forty letters, with the number of the town written on each. Written by hand, by anyone. The tutors want to try a layered mind on them.
Saltreach to Vell: seen. Forty letters on the cart today. Written by the hamlet. The fish seller wrote ten. She writes her sevens with a line through. She was proud of it.
Copperhold to Vell: seen. Forty letters. Hesk wrote them. His threes are very square.
Noon. Vell to all towers: the tutors have a layered mind that reads the numbers on letters. The letters are for the relays. Today we feed it yours.
Vell to all towers: why. A keeper reads a number from a letter in the time it takes to say it. A cart of a thousand letters takes a day. A mind that reads them could do it in the time the cart takes to unload.
Dusk. Vell to all towers: results. It read the Copperhold letters, thirty-eight in forty. Wrong: a three that looked like an eight. A zero that was nearly a six.
Vell to Saltreach: it read yours, thirty-two in forty. Wrong: eight of the fish seller's sevens, which it read as fours because of the line.
Saltreach to Vell: seen. The fish seller says the mind needs to learn to read.
Vell to Saltreach: Merle says: it can. Next week we will drill it on sevens with lines. It will be wrong at first. Each time it is wrong, the blame goes back and it changes a little.
Saltreach to Vell: tell Merle the fish seller says she will teach it herself.
Vell to Saltreach: Merle says she may.
Next day. Vell to Saltreach: the mind now reads the sevens with lines. The fish seller is at the door of the tutor house. She asks if it can read hers or all sevens. The tutors do not know what to say.
All well. Orrin.
%%
Notice: the loom hall, spring of 204
Posted at the loom hall door by Fern, weaver.
The loom hall is open from first light to dark. Bring your wool, bring your flax, bring your thread. We will weave it or teach you to weave it.
The new apprentices are here. There are four of them. They carry baskets and they sort the thread by color. They are not fast. They are never wrong. If you see one standing still, it is thinking. Leave it be.
The blue dye is good this spring. The red dye is poor. If you want red, wait.
A cart comes from Kettle Ridge on the eighth of each month with wool. It comes back with cloth. If you have a load for the ridge, put it by the door with your name on it.
The slip road is still bad after rain. If your cart sticks, ask Corin at the slip. He has a winch and he likes to use it.
No candles past the door. We have lamps. We had a fire once. We do not want another.
Rates are on the board by the window. Children weave for free.
Fern.
%%
Message: the old map
Three Wells tower to Kettle Ridge tower, Melon 4, first bell.
Dace: Has the old road map reached Cass?
Neri: It is at the house. The map is older than the mill pond bridge.
Cass: I can read it. The ink has run at the edges, but the road is clear.
Dace: Does it show the west ford?
Cass: It shows a bridge where there is no bridge now.
Neri: There is a stone post there, half sunk in the grass.
Cass: I will take the map to the square when I come in.
Dace: Keep it dry. Oren may want a copy for the Archive.
Cass: I will wrap it in wool.
Neri: The wool has a hole.
Cass: Then I will use the clean flour cloth.
Neri: Not the flour cloth. I just washed it.
Cass: I will use my coat.
Dace: The map is safer than your coat.
%%
Relay log, Ambrook hill lamp, the play
Spring of 52. Written in short. Kept by Lyle, beekeeper and lamp keeper.

Morning. Ambrook to Three Wells: the Ambrook school plays "The Bee and the Oak" on the first fine day. Eleven children. Nine are bees, in yellow wool. Come if you can.
Three Wells to Ambrook: seen. We will come by cart. How long is the play?
Ambrook to Three Wells: one hour. It was two. We cut the oak's speech.
Three Wells to Ambrook: who plays the oak?
Ambrook to Three Wells: Ned's boy. He is good at standing still.
Noon, play day. Ambrook to Three Wells: the yellow wool has brought real bees. Nine children are standing very still. Mave is walking them home slowly.
Three Wells to Ambrook: is anyone stung?
Ambrook to Three Wells: no. The bees think the children are one very large flower. The play stopped. The bees stayed for the second half.
Three Wells to Ambrook: seen. The cart is on the road. Is there a second play?
Ambrook to Three Wells: next spring, in brown wool.
%%
Relay: Three Wells, midwinter
Sent from the hill above Three Wells, on the longest night. Bel is keeper, and writes everything in her best hand. The relay house at Vell is quiet tonight. Most of the messages are good.

Three Wells to Northpoint, first hour after dusk.
Good midwinter from Three Wells. The fire is lit on the square. Everyone is singing, even the cat.

Northpoint to Three Wells, first hour.
Good midwinter from Northpoint. The lamp is lit. I have coal. I have a fox at the door. Tell the square the fox sings worse than Tam.

Three Wells to Northpoint, second hour.
Tam sings the worst, the whole valley knows. Tell Mira the square sends a pie. It is in the box at Vell, going north on the morning cart. It will be frozen by the time it gets there.

Northpoint to Three Wells, second hour.
Frozen pie is still pie. Send the recipe. Send it to Vell, I will get it on the spring cart.

Three Wells to Northpoint, third hour.
Recipe is pumpkin, sugar, egg. Hollis says there is no crust. A traveler said it is only a pudding. Hollis sold him two.

Northpoint to Three Wells, third hour.
I have to say this. I will sit by the lamp and think about the pudding all night.

Three Wells to Northpoint, fourth hour.
Long night for everyone. Keep the torches lit.

Northpoint to Three Wells, fourth hour.
Keep the torches lit. Good night, Three Wells.
%%
Relay messages: a lesson at Saltreach
Saltreach tower book, autumn of 206. Sage, the schoolteacher, asked Harl if her class could send messages along the line for one afternoon, in the proper form, to learn why the form is kept. Copied from the book as they went.

From: Saltreach, Class four
To: Northpoint, Mira
Words: 7
Do foxes really steal socks? Please answer.
End

From: Northpoint, Mira
To: Saltreach, Class four
Words: 13
Yes. A white one named Sock took three of mine. She returned one.
End

From: Saltreach, Class four
To: Northpoint, Mira
Words: 5
Why only one? Class four.
End

From: Northpoint, Mira
To: Saltreach, Class four
Words: 10
Foxes like one sock. Nobody knows why. Ask the fox.
End

Then Sage said, now a real one.

From: Saltreach, Class four
To: Copperhold, Hesk
Words: 8
Please send three sacks of coal. Cold here.
End

From: Copperhold, Hesk
To: Saltreach, Class four
Words: 11
Seen, but only seven words came. Which is missing? Send again.
End

From: Saltreach, Class four
To: Copperhold, Hesk
Words: 9
The missing word was three. Three sacks of coal.
End

From: Copperhold, Hesk
To: Saltreach, Class four
Words: 7
Three sacks. On the cart tomorrow. Hesk.
End

Class four wrote on the board: A word that is lost is a word we know about, because of the count. Without the count, Hesk would have sent sacks of coal, and nobody knows how many. Perhaps one. Perhaps thirty. That is why the form is kept.

The class would like it known that they asked about the foxes first.
%%
Relay: a quiet day, forty words
Messages passed through the hamlet tower near Copperhold on a summer afternoon, as kept by Hazel in the log. The shepherd was minding the lamp while the keeper was at the wedding.

Three Wells to Copperhold, noon: "Anything from the north?"
Copperhold to Three Wells, noon: "Nothing. Quiet."
Copperhold to hamlet, first hour: "Anything to send?"
Hamlet to Copperhold, first hour: "One lamb born. Twin. Both well."
Copperhold to Three Wells, first hour: "Hamlet reports twin lambs. Both well."
Three Wells to Copperhold, second hour: "Joy."
Hamlet to Copperhold, third hour: "Lamp lit. Glass clean. All quiet."
Copperhold to hamlet, third hour: "Received. Good shepherd."
Hamlet to Copperhold, fourth hour: "Thank you."
%%
Relay: the fishing boat
Kept at the Halfway Inn by the carter who keeps the slate by the stove.
Saltreach, dusk, to Vell hill: The Grey Kestrel is two hours late and the wind is up. Sending men to the wall with lamps. Reply.
Vell hill, dusk: Received. The mill lanterns are lit on the road. Reply.
Saltreach, early dark: Sighted from the wall. A light on the far rock, not moving. Reply.
Vell hill, early dark: Light seen from here too. Keep the men on the wall. Reply.
Saltreach, midnight: The light is gone. Wind higher. Net mender says the boat knows the rock, and will come round. Reply.
Vell hill, midnight: Stay on the wall. Keep the lamps going. Reply.
Saltreach, second bell: A horn from the water. Then nothing. Then the horn again. Reply.
Vell hill, second bell: Horn heard here, faint. Tell the men to answer it. Reply.
Saltreach, third bell: Answered. The horn came back, close. Reply.
Saltreach, first light: The Grey Kestrel is in. Three days of fish. The net is torn at one end. The boat did not leak. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: Thank the men. Good night's work. Reply.
%%
Relay log: a summer at the little tower
From the log of the little tower on the hill above the Kiln Inn, summer of the 41st year. Copied out by Lise the potter, who says it is the nicest thing she has ever read, and it is only a list.

Swarm 4. Vell to little tower: the Archive kitchen needs 300 bowls. Can the Kiln Inn make them?
Little tower to Vell: asked. Lise says yes, if the kiln holds. The kiln says yes.
Swarm 9. Kiln Inn to Three Wells: bowls on the way, 40 a day. Please send flour for the soup.
Swarm 20. Vell to little tower: a helper of the tutors will walk to the hill tomorrow to carry stone for the keeper's house. It walks slowly. It does not stop. Do not give it bread.
Little tower to Vell: seen. The dog has been told.
Longday 2. A cart overturned on the hill road. Nobody hurt. The horse is cross. Three travelers lifted the cart. Lise gave them soup.
Longday 11. Vell to all: the Archive has 6000 records. The shelves are full. We dig.
Longday 15. Little tower to Vell: a traveler at the Kiln Inn says it snowed last night at the north pass. In Longday! The inn does not believe him. Is there snow at Vell?
Vell to little tower: no snow.
Little tower to Vell: the traveler says he did not say here. He said there.
Melon 3. Kiln Inn to all: wedding at the inn. Berta and Hal. Bowls for all. Soup for all. Music from three travelers who did not know each other.
Melon 8. Vell to little tower: the clerks ask for 20 more bowls, small, to hold ink. The ink spills less. Hopeful.
Melon 14. Three Wells to little tower: the second inn on the road is open. The Brown Hen. Bed and stew. The Kiln Inn is no longer the only warm place.
Melon 20. Little tower to all: end of summer. Stone house finished. Four new beds at the Kiln Inn. Two new inns on the Long Road since spring. The line from Vell to Three Wells has not missed a night. All well.
%%
Relay log: how deep the vein goes
Copied at Vell by Oren, archive clerk, from the tower slips. The mind at Three Wells answers in its own words, and the clerks copy them as they are.

Lowmarsh tower to Three Wells house, 2nd hour after dusk:
Crew Two, at the east well, asks how deep the copper vein goes under the reeds. The crew has no tool for this. It has a rope and a stone.

Three Wells house to Lowmarsh tower, 2nd hour after dusk:
I do not know how deep the vein goes. Nobody has measured it. Measure it with the rope and the stone, one spot at a time, and write each depth on the card.

Lowmarsh tower to Three Wells house, 2nd hour after dusk:
The crew asks whether the rope is long enough. The rope is thirty paces. The reeds are deeper than thirty paces.

Three Wells house to Lowmarsh tower, 2nd hour after dusk:
Then tie a second rope to the first, at the knot. Lower the stone, and mark the rope where the stone stops. That is the depth at that spot. Move the crew to the next spot, and do it again.

Lowmarsh tower to Three Wells house, 3rd hour after dusk:
The crew's plan is long: three days, with a card for each day. It has written the cards and asks whether they are right. The first card reads:
> fetch the rope and the stone from the boat house
= fetch rope
> lower the stone at each spot, and mark the rope
= haul

Three Wells house to Lowmarsh tower, 3rd hour after dusk:
The first card is right. Make the second card the same, at the next spot. The third card adds up the marks. Check the sum twice. The reeds will not check it for you.

Lowmarsh tower to Three Wells house, 4th hour after dusk:
The crew thanks the house. Its card asks one thing more. Where does the copper go, once it is up?

Three Wells house to Lowmarsh tower, 4th hour after dusk:
Up the hill to Copperhold on the next cart, in a sack, with a note. Copperhold weighs it and writes back. Tell the crew that a sack is a good way to carry a thing whose size you do not yet know.
%%
Relay message: Ambrook to Three Wells
Ambrook tower to Three Wells tower, fifth of Blossom, 204, evening.
Tam to Dace at Three Wells.
Dace, the bet is off. Bel walked it in two days. I walked it in three. Do not ask about the frogs. The frogs were fine. It was the mud.
I am buying the honey now. Tell Bel it is from Ambrook and it is the good kind. Tell her she is a quick walker and a fair winner.
Also the apple trees are loaded on the cart. I will be at the Kettle Inn tonight. Tam
%%
Relay log, Ambrook lamp, Founding Day
First day of spring, year 55. Written in short. Kept by Fern, Lyle's daughter, who has the lamp today because Lyle has a bee in his hat.

Dawn. Vell to all towers: today is the 55th Founding Day. The oldest page is out of its oak box. The clerks have read it aloud. It says: We will keep everything we write. Happy spring.
Three Wells to Vell: happy spring. We have baked a pie the size of a door.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: happy spring. The mills are turning for you.
Lowmarsh to Vell: happy spring. The frogs have begun. They say it too.
Ambrook to Vell: happy spring. The bees are awake. The old oak has buds.
Saltreach to Vell: happy spring! Our lamp is lit. This is our first Founding Day on the line.
Vell to Saltreach: welcome. We read you well. Is there fog?
Saltreach to Vell: yes. Say again.
Vell to Saltreach: welcome to the line.
Saltreach to Vell: seen. Thank you.
Morning. Vell to all towers: the Archive counted its texts at dawn. 4,310. About four hundred came in this year, mostly letters. Please keep writing.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: what should we write?
Vell to Kettle Ridge: anything. A recipe. A joke. A list of what is in your barn.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: the barn is a long list.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: send it.
Noon. The little hill lamp to Vell: one keeper, one lamp, all well. The keeper wishes it known that she is also here.
Vell to the little hill lamp: seen. You are known.
Ambrook to Vell: a jar of honey is on the next cart for the clerks. Please do not put it on the records.
Vell to Ambrook: the clerks promise. It is for tea.
Three Wells to all towers: the new road from Ambrook had its first full cart today. It did not stop once. The horse is proud.
Lowmarsh to Three Wells: is the Brown Hen open tonight?
Three Wells to Lowmarsh: yes. The hen is well.
Afternoon. Copperhold to Vell: not on the line yet. Our lamp is built. The glass is on the cart. Summer.
Vell to Copperhold: seen. We are waiting for you.
Dusk. Vell to all towers: when the dusk bell rings at Vell, every lamp on the line is lit at once. Ready?
All towers to Vell: ready.
Vell to all towers: now.
Fern writes this for her father: from our hill I could see two other lamps, and I counted them twice. The rest I took on trust, like the rest of the line.
End of the day. Lamp trimmed. Fern.
%%
Relay log: Copperhold to Three Wells
The new vein. Times are tower times.

14:02 Copperhold to Three Wells. Hesk here. We struck a copper vein on the seventh level. Good ore. Wide.
14:05 Three Wells to Copperhold. How wide?
14:06 Copperhold to Three Wells. Wide enough to walk into. Clank says it goes on.
14:09 Three Wells to Copperhold. Send the assay down the line when you have it.
14:11 Copperhold to Three Wells. Tomorrow. The forge is hot tonight.
14:30 Copperhold to Three Wells. Careful word. The stone by the new vein is warm. Warmer than it should be.
14:33 Three Wells to Copperhold. Warm how?
14:35 Copperhold to Copperhold. Hesk here. I do not know. I am writing it in the log. That is all.
14:40 Three Wells to Copperhold. Noted. Keep the torches lit.
%%
Cass to Tam, by the relay
Kettle Ridge tower to Northpoint tower, Frost 2, morning.
Cass: The house is sound after the rain. The roof board held.
Tam: Did the step hold?
Cass: It held me. It did not hold the basket.
Tam: What was in the basket?
Cass: Two jars of honey and a loaf.
Tam: Did they break?
Cass: One jar broke. The loaf landed in the mud.
Tam: Then the step has made a poor choice.
Cass: I was carrying it with one hand. The other hand held the door.
Tam: Put a rail beside the step.
Cass: I have a rail. I used it for the wood pile.
Tam: Take it from the wood pile.
Cass: The wood pile will fall.
Tam: Stack it again.
Cass: You make every task sound small.
Tam: I have a field, a mill tally board, and Pip. I know about small tasks.
Cass: Pip sent the copper rings to Saltreach. Corin says they fit.
Tam: Good. Hesk sent more word of the vein?
Cass: He says the seam is clean, but they must follow it slowly. He has marked the safe wall.
Tam: Tell him not to let Clank test it with his head.
Cass: Hesk has already said that.
Tam: Then Clank has already tried it.
Cass: He has a bump, not a broken head.
Tam: Tell him his head is not a tool.
Cass: Hesk says he told him. Clank says he was only checking the sound.
Tam: A mine has enough sounds without help.
Cass: The old map is back in my chest. Bel drew the oak and three hats on a copy.
Tam: Keep your copy dry.
Cass: It is under the bed, with the flour and the spare rope.
Tam: Do not put flour beside the rope.
Cass: Why?
Tam: The cat sleeps there.
Cass: The cat is not a danger to flour.
Tam: It is a danger to every clean thing.
%%
Briar's bridge book, the relay notes
The bridge at the foot of Kettle Ridge, winter. The ridge tower sends down whatever concerns the bridge, and I copy it in. Briar.

Frost 4. From the ridge tower: ice on the Long Road bridge by midnight. Sand it. I sanded it.
Frost 9. From Three Wells: a cart of salt, two horses, crossing at noon. Hold the bridge. Held. The horses did not want to cross. I led them. The salt did not mind.
Longnight 2. From Vell: all bridge lamps to be lit from dusk to dawn, by order of the council. I have lit this lamp for forty years. Nobody had to order me.
Longnight 10. From the ridge tower: the Copperhold carts will not come this month. The lower road is closed. Another thing for the book.
Longnight 15. From Saltreach: forty families will cross the bridge on their way to the sea, over three days. Hold the bridge. Hot drinks if you can. I made soup. They crossed in the dark with their hens in crates. One child waved. I waved back.
Deepsnow 3. From the ridge tower: no answer from the north line since dusk. Hold the bridge.
Deepsnow 3, later. I am holding it. I do not know what for.
%%
Relay log: the unseen drill, autumn 201
Copied by Bel, who is nine, from the book her mother keeps by the farm door. Her mother checked the spelling and left the rest.

Dawn. Three Wells to Vell: the test box has come up the road. Is the drill sealed?
Two hours after dawn. Vell to Three Wells: sealed. Nobody has seen the answers. Not even Nessa.
Dusk. Vell to Three Wells: it passed eight of ten. Good. Now it is tested. Send it to the fields at dawn, and not before.
%%
Storm, the Long Road, autumn 190
Copied by Vesper, from the little hill's book. The storm came up from the west in the night and blew for two days.

Dawn. Vell to all towers: wind from the west. Stake the lamps. Cover the glass.
Two hours after dawn. Little hill to Vell: lamp covered. Rain is in the stair.
Noon. Three Wells to little hill: carts held at the crossroads. Dace says nobody moves until the wind drops.
Noon, later. Brown Hen to little hill: Pell's cart is in the yard. Pell has been told. Pell says he is not moving.
Dusk. Little hill to all: the wind has got under the barn roof at the Brown Hen. The hens are on the beams. They look pleased with it.
Night. Kettle Ridge to little hill: the windmill has lost a sail. The miller is on the roof with a rope.
Dawn. Little hill to Vell: the wind has dropped at last. All lamps lit. Seen. The Brown Hen is still standing. So is Pell.
%%
Relay log, Ambrook hill lamp, the hives
Spring of 52. Written in short. Kept by Lyle, beekeeper and lamp keeper.

Dusk. Ambrook to Three Wells: need a cart for twelve hives, to the apple hill. Who has one?
Three Wells to Ambrook: Dov has a cart. He asks what a hive weighs.
Ambrook to Three Wells: what a child weighs. Less talking.
Three Wells to Ambrook: Dov says yes. Two days. Do bees mind bumps?
Ambrook to Three Wells: yes. Go slowly.
Three Wells to Ambrook: Dov says he minds bumps too.
Lamp trimmed. Lyle.
%%
Letter: Alder to the inn at Three Wells
To the keeper of the Brown Hen, from Alder at Lowmarsh, spring of 41.
We have a poor harvest coming and I am asking for help before the hungry days. The water stood in the fields too long. The seed rotted and the beetroot came up thin. We will not starve, but we will be lean.
I hear a cart of grain is on the road. Send word when it reaches the crossroads and we will meet it.
I have borrowed a horse from a farmer up the marsh. It is a grey mare, slow but willing. I will bring her back when the roads dry. Tell the farmer she is safe with me.
The frogs are loud this year. Wren would say that means rain. I think the frogs are only happy.
Write soon. Alder.
%%
Relay post: Thaw to Sowing
Slips from the Vell market relay post for the spring, copied by Oren, archive clerk. Some are short. Some are not.

Vell market to Saltreach, 1st hour, Thaw: The market wants the price of salt fish this week.
Saltreach to Vell market, 2nd hour: Ten emeralds the barrel, or nine if you bring a cart. Corin says so. Corin is in a mood about the hull on the slip.
Vell market to Saltreach, 3rd hour: What hull?
Saltreach to Vell market, 4th hour: The one that is three times as long as any boat. Corin says it is only a bigger boat. Ned, who sold them the nails, says it is a barn on the water.
Vell market to Saltreach, 5th hour: Seen. Keep the children off the slip. Write down what Corin says and what Ned says, and then leave them to argue.

Vell market to Ambrook, 1st hour, Sowing: Any word from the north? Still nothing from Northpoint. The lamp at Ambrook sees the lamp at Vell, and that is all.
Ambrook to Vell market, 2nd hour: Nothing. The lamp at Ambrook is clear. The lamp at Kettle Ridge reports nothing from the north either. Each tower says it is the tower beyond it that has gone quiet.

Three Wells to Vell market, 3rd hour: The school bell has a crack. Dace asks for a tutor to look at it. The tutor is coming in Sowing, if the road allows.
Vell market to Three Wells, 4th hour: Seen. The tutor's cart leaves Vell on the fourth day of Sowing.

Halfway Inn to Vell market, 5th hour: A plain gold ring was found by the north well. It has a name inside it, which is Lise. Ask in the market.
Vell market to Halfway Inn, 6th hour: Asked. Lise says it is her mother's. She will come up the road tomorrow with a cake.

Saltreach to Vell market, 7th hour: Two boats in from the deep water with good cod. A ship's cook on the quay asked us to send salt. We sent salt. He sent back a smile. We are not sure what the smile means.

Three Wells to all towers, 8th hour: Sorrel and Edda are married on the last day of Blossom, at the square. Bring bread. Bring the children.

Ambrook to Vell market, 9th hour: The bees from the school box have settled on the east wall. Ama says they are happy. Dace says they are a rule now.

Kettle Ridge to Vell market, 10th hour: The windmill is turning. Tam says it has never been so loud. Juno says it is the first good sound since Frost.

Vell market to all towers, 11th hour, Sowing: The copying room is closed for the rest of the day for cleaning. Please send no slips until the evening.

Vell market to all towers, 12th hour: Last slip for the week. Thank you, all. Keep the slips. Oren.
%%
Relay log, Copperhold, the lost rope
Copperhold tower log, autumn, 205. Kept by Hesk. A rope went missing on the mine road one morning, and the search took the whole day. The messages are copied in full, so that the next keeper will know how it was found.

First bell, Copperhold to all towers: a rope is lost on the mine road, between the gate and the first bend. Thirty paces of good hemp. Anyone who has it, bring it back.
First bell, Three Wells to Copperhold: seen. No rope on the Three Wells cart. Ask the Brown Hen.
First bell, Brown Hen to Copperhold: no rope here. The carters were not up on the mine road this morning.
Second bell, Copperhold to Halfway: seen. Hobb, do you have a rope?
Second bell, Halfway to Copperhold: we have six. Two are on the cart. Four are in the stable. None is lost.
Second bell, Copperhold to Vell: Oren, please check the book. A rope may have been logged in the wrong store.
Second bell, Vell to Copperhold: the book shows one rope to the mine store, sent in spring. It has not come back. Oren is sorry.
Noon, Copperhold to all towers: the rope is not at the Brown Hen, the Halfway or the Oak Post. Keep watching the road.
Noon, Oak Post to Copperhold: no rope. The carters say the north road is clear. They say the dogs are very busy in the ditch.
Afternoon, Copperhold to Ambrook: is there a rope at the mill?
Afternoon, Ambrook to Copperhold: no rope. Jory is looking in the race. Jory says he has found a boot.
Afternoon, Copperhold to Ambrook: whose boot?
Afternoon, Ambrook to Copperhold: nobody knows. It is a child's boot. It is wet.
Evening, Copperhold to mine gate: the rope has been found. Bram found it on the mine road, in the gutter, tied round a stone.
Evening, mine gate to Copperhold: it was not lost. It was tied off by a boy who was running a game. He tied it to the stone and forgot it. He says the boot was his too.
Night, Copperhold to all towers: rope is back on the store shelf. The boy is at home, and his mother has taken his other boot. All well. Hesk.
%%
Relay log
Kept by Emmet, shepherd, who was asked to mind the Saltreach tower for a second week, because Sula the keeper was still weak. Summer. Written a line or two a day and handed to the Archive at Vell. Short, with a few notes of his own.

First day.
Saltreach to Vell: Emmet at the lamp. Sula resting. Sheep fed.
Vell to Saltreach: seen.

Second day.
Copperhold to Saltreach: first ore from the new vein is on the road. Eleven sacks. Corin will be glad.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Corin is glad. He asks for twelve.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Hesk says: eleven.

Third day.
Three Wells to Saltreach: Dace has the new gate for your farm. Which day shall it go?
Saltreach to Three Wells: market day. Thank you.
Note: I never asked for a new gate. The old gate is only a little scorched. But Dace is kind, and I do not argue with a mayor.

Fourth day.
Saltreach to Ambrook: the sheep want honey. Emmet jokes. Please send a jar for the tower.
Ambrook to Saltreach: jar goes on the cart tomorrow. Rook says: sheep do not eat honey.
Saltreach to Ambrook: I know. I do.

Fifth day.
Vell to Saltreach: Brann asks if you still hit zombies with the crook.
Saltreach to Vell: no zombies this week. Crook stays in the corner.
Vell to Saltreach: good.

Sixth day.
Saltreach to Vell: Sula is up. She walked to the tower and looked at the lamp. She says I have kept it well.
Vell to Saltreach: Brann sends thanks to the shepherd.
Saltreach to Vell: Emmet goes home on the seventh. The sheep are glad.

Seventh day.
Emmet leaves the log on the table, and the key under the stone.
%%
Relay log, Kettle Ridge: the Grey Gull
Kettle Ridge tower, spring of 206. Kept by Wynn. Written in short. Copied by Tova, who has a cousin on the boat.
Dusk. Saltreach to all towers: the Grey Gull is due home and is not home. Fog on the bay. Harbor lamp stays lit.
Kettle Ridge to Saltreach: seen. The Windy farm asks if the Gull has Bryn aboard. Their boy is on her.
Saltreach to Kettle Ridge: yes. Nine on board, Bryn one.
Night. Saltreach to all towers: still no Gull. Lamp lit. Boats out with lanterns.
Kettle Ridge to Saltreach: seen. We are keeping the lamp on the ridge lit too. It will not help. Wynn says it will not hurt.
First light. Saltreach to all towers: the Grey Gull is in. The wind took her out past the point. All hands well. Cod, 700. One hat lost.
Kettle Ridge to Saltreach: seen. The Windy farm says: whose hat?
Saltreach to Kettle Ridge: the cook's. He says it was a poor hat.
Windy farm to Saltreach, by Kettle Ridge: tell Bryn to come home and eat.
Saltreach to Windy farm, by Kettle Ridge: Bryn says he ate on the boat. He says he will eat again.
%%
Relay: the wedding in the hills
Messages sent down the line by Hazel, shepherd, from the hamlet tower near Copperhold. Summer.

Hamlet to Copperhold, second hour: "Wedding on the hill, Longday, third of the month. Hazel's brother and the miller's girl. All welcome. Bring a plate."
Copperhold to hamlet, second hour: "Received. Will come. Will bring a pie. Hesk says he will bring nothing but himself."
Hamlet to Copperhold, third hour: "Tell Hesk that is enough."
Copperhold to hamlet, third hour: "Told. He laughed. First time this year."
%%
Relay log, Saltreach tower, noon
Kept by Emmet, shepherd, from the Saltreach tower, in summer. He was asked by the keeper to write down what came and went while she was out at the slip.

Copperhold to Saltreach: new copper vein found under the third level. Rich. The mine hall asks the shipyard how much it will want.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Corin says all of it.
Copperhold to Saltreach: all of it is a lot.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Corin says he will wait.
Copperhold to Saltreach: first ore leaves in three days. Hesk.
Saltreach to Copperhold: seen. Emmet, shepherd, standing in for the keeper.
Copperhold to Saltreach: tell the keeper to hurry back. Hesk is not good with shepherds.
%%
Relay: Una's crystal, the pears
Relay log, the ferry inn. Summer. Kept by Hollis. The messages came up the river from Ambrook about a crystal that sorts pears.

Ambrook to ferry, dawn: Una says the crystal sorted the pears into the apple bin again. Thirteen pears.
Ferry to Ambrook, dawn: seen. Tell Una to show it the pears again.
Ambrook to ferry, first bell: she did. Each time it sorted one wrong, she moved each of its weights a little toward the right answer, and then she showed it again.
Ferry to Ambrook, first bell: how much each time?
Ambrook to ferry, second bell: a little. Not a jump. She says a big jump is what makes a mind swing like a gate in the wind.
Vell to Ambrook, noon: the tutors' book says the same. The first lesson in it is Una's way of drilling.
Ambrook to Vell, noon: seen. Una says the books should be read by the pears.
Ferry to all towers, dusk: the crystal sorted the pears right, all but two. Una says that is better than most children's sorting, which is done with their mouths.
Three Wells to ferry, dusk: seen. Tell her the children at the school would like to test her pears.
Ferry to Three Wells, dusk: the children are welcome. Bring the apples. The crystal will not mind.
Ferry to all towers, dusk: lamp lit. Glass clean. Messages passed.
%%
Relay: the wedding of Dane and Tilly
Messages between the tower at a hamlet near Copperhold, Vell, Kettle Ridge and Three Wells, written down by Hazel, shepherd, who minded the lamp. Summer. The wedding of Hazel's brother Dane and the miller's daughter Tilly was held on the hill.

Hamlet to Kettle Ridge, sixth hour: "Wedding today. Dane and Tilly. Ceremony at the second hour after noon. Bring cake."
Kettle Ridge to hamlet, sixth hour: "Received. Tam will come with honey and a speech. Pip carries the speech."
Hamlet to Kettle Ridge, seventh hour: "Tell Tam to keep it short."
Kettle Ridge to hamlet, seventh hour: "He says he cannot. We will bring a bench."
Hamlet to Vell, eighth hour: "Please send a clerk to write the names in the big book. Dane and Tilly of the hamlet."
Vell to hamlet, eighth hour: "Oren will come. He brings his own ink."
Hamlet to Three Wells, ninth hour: "Wedding at noon. Is the mayor coming?"
Three Wells to hamlet, ninth hour: "Dace will come. He asks if there will be a feast."
Hamlet to Three Wells, ninth hour: "There will be a feast."
Three Wells to hamlet, tenth hour: "He is already walking."

Later, noon. Hamlet to all towers: "The wedding is done. Dane and Tilly are married. The hill is full of folk. The lamb is eating the cake."
Copperhold to hamlet, noon: "Joy from Copperhold. The miners are drinking your health."
Vell to hamlet, noon: "Joy from Vell. The big book has two new names."
Kettle Ridge to hamlet, noon: "Joy. Tam is making a speech. He cannot stop."
Three Wells to hamlet, noon: "Joy. Dace is eating."
Hamlet to all towers, first hour after noon: "Thank you all. Lamp lit. Glass clean. Good night."
%%
Relay notes, Ambrook to the Long Road
Copied by Lenn, charcoal burner. Summer. Notes on a lost cow, in the order sent.

Ambrook to Three Wells, early: cow lost in the night. Black, big, one bell. Answers to Marigold.
Three Wells to Ambrook, early: seen on the Long Road, going west. Walking slowly.
Ambrook to the Halfway Inn, by Three Wells: please look for a black cow with a bell. She may be inside.
Halfway Inn to Ambrook, noon: cow is inside. In the kitchen. Ate the pies. Eight of them. Who pays?
Ambrook to Halfway Inn: we pay. Keep her there. We come with a cart.
Halfway Inn to Ambrook: she is not unhappy. She has asked for no more. She is asleep by the hearth.
Ambrook to Three Wells, evening: found. Thank you to all towers. Please tell the Long Road she is the one that was lost.
Three Wells to Ambrook: all towers say, glad. Hobb at the inn says, send an apple for the pies.
Ambrook to Halfway Inn: apple coming. The cow comes home in the morning, in a cart, with a bell. A good cow.
%%
Relay log: a whole autumn of halls, 207
Copied by Bel for the school, at the teacher's request, so that the children can learn the difference between a test and a guess. The contest ran for the whole of Reaping and Apple.

Dawn, first day of Reaping. Vell to all: the halls begin. Each mind gets one unseen drill a week. The drill is sealed by the tutor, and sent by the cart, and opened in the hall, at the bell, by a child who is not allowed to look.
Dawn, second week. Copperhold to Vell: our mind got six of ten. The miners say the drill was hard. Vell to Copperhold: the drill was the same for all. The drill is always hard for the one who is slow to learn it.
Noon, second week. Ambrook to Vell: eight of ten. The orchard sends apples. We thank you. The apples are sweet.
Dusk, third week. Three Wells to Vell: seven of ten. We had hoped for eight. The bakers say seven is a good number, and that they will bake a loaf for the mind, which the mind cannot eat.
Night, third week. Kettle Ridge to Vell: nine of ten. The windmill is proud. The miller says the mind must be his grandson in disguise, and the miller's wife says that is not possible.
Dawn, fourth week. Vell to all: the tutors have met. The rule is this. A mind is tested on what it has never been drilled on. A mind that remembers its drills will do well on them, and badly on the unseen one. We test on the unseen one, because that is where a mind shows whether it has learned the work.
Noon, fourth week. Copperhold to Vell: thank you for the rule. Our miners say it is simple, and they say simple rules are the only kind that a mine can keep.
Dusk, fourth week. Vell to all: the scores of the fourth week are in. Ambrook first, nine of ten. Three Wells and Copperhold, eight each. Kettle Ridge, seven. Nobody has argued. The windmill has been asked to keep quiet about grandsons.
Night, fourth week. Three Wells to Vell: thank you. The school is pleased. The teacher says the children now understand the word unseen, and the word guess, and the difference between them.
Dawn, fifth week. Vell to all: the last drill of the contest is sealed. It is the hardest yet. Open it at the bell, and do not look ahead.
Noon, fifth week. Ambrook to Vell: opened, and done, and sealed again. The mind is tired. The orchard is tired. We have all been very honest.
Dusk, fifth week. Vell to all: the final count will be posted at the Archive on the first day of Apple. Every hall will be named, and every score written beside the name, and nobody will be surprised.
Night, fifth week. Three Wells to Vell: we are glad the contest is over, and glad it was fair. We will do it again in spring. Tell the tutors we are not afraid of the unseen drill. We are only curious.
%%
Relay notes, Ambrook, a goose and a pig
Copied by Lenn, charcoal burner, from the notes of the tower on the hill. Summer. Kept because the keeper laughed so much that she asked me to take them.

Ambrook to Three Wells, first hour of afternoon: pig lost. A big one, pink, with a spot on the left. He knows his name, which is Nutmeg. He does not come when called.
Three Wells to Ambrook: pig seen at the fair. In the cheese tent. Eating the cheese.
Ambrook to Three Wells: that is him. Do not blame him. The cheese was open.
Three Wells to Ambrook: the cheese seller is not happy. She says four wheels are gone.
Ambrook to Three Wells: please ask her what she wants.
Three Wells to Ambrook: she says two emeralds each. Eight in all. She is firm.
Ambrook to Three Wells: eight is a lot for a pig. We will pay six and bring a jar of honey.
Three Wells to Ambrook: she says she will take the honey, if it is the good honey. She says she knows the difference.
Ambrook to Three Wells: it is the good honey. It is the Ambrook honey. Nobody else has such bees.
Three Wells to Ambrook: agreed. Pig is in a pen. Pig is asleep. Pig is round.

Next day. Ambrook to Three Wells: a second matter. Nutmeg is not the only one who is lost. Our goose has gone too. White, loud, answers to nobody.
Three Wells to Ambrook: the goose is with the pig. They are in the pen. They are friends.
Ambrook to Three Wells: do not separate them. We shall send a cart for both. Please tell the cheese seller that the honey is two jars now.
Three Wells to Ambrook: she says three. We said yes.

Summary by Lenn. The pig and the goose came home on the cart, side by side, looking very pleased. The cheese seller got three jars. The tower got a story. And I got to sit in the tower for a whole afternoon and drink tea. It was the best day of the summer.
%%
Relay log, Copperhold, the market week
Copperhold tower log, the second week of autumn, 204. Kept by Hesk. Written in short, with the bell times, so the keepers can see the day.

First bell, Copperhold to Three Wells: copper on the cart, six loads, for the market. Send word of the price.
First bell, Three Wells to Copperhold: seen. Price is two for one. Ida says the bread has gone up. Hollis says it has gone down.
Second bell, Copperhold to Three Wells: seen. Tell Hollis the copper is up. Tell Ida the bread is her own affair.
Second bell, Three Wells to Copperhold: Hollis says thank you. Ida says she will send you a loaf.
Noon, Copperhold to Vell: copper sold at Three Wells, all six loads. Sending the count to Oren by the afternoon post.
Noon, Vell to Copperhold: seen. Oren asks if the count is in the right hand. It is in Hesk's hand. Oren says that is the right hand for copper.
Afternoon, Copperhold to Halfway: the carts are coming through. Hobb, please keep the stew on till the last one is in.
Afternoon, Halfway to Copperhold: stew is on. Last cart is at the gate. It is Teg, with a boy asleep on the sacks.
Evening, Copperhold to Halfway: seen. Let the boy sleep. Put him in the hay.
Evening, Halfway to Copperhold: the boy is in the hay. He will not wake up. Hobb says he has never seen a boy sleep so well.
Night, Copperhold to all towers: market done. Lamps lit. Watch the north road.
All well. Hesk.
%%
Relay log, autumn 203: the wrong order
Copied by Vesper, from the little hill's book, with the Brown Hen's notes in the margin. The apprentice is new, from the drill board at Vell.

Dawn. Brown Hen to little hill: the new apprentice is in the yard. Tested at Vell, nine of ten. It is called Sprig.
Two hours after dawn. Little hill to Brown Hen: seen. Give it the apple barrels. Tell it to store them in the cellar, all of them.
Noon. Brown Hen to little hill: the order is given. The answer came back as this:
> store the apples in the cellar
= fetch apples
Noon, later. Brown Hen to little hill: it fetched the apples. All of them. It has piled them by the well and is standing guard. We told it store, and it heard fetch.
Dusk. Vell to Brown Hen: tell it to stay where it is for the night.
Dusk, later. Brown Hen to Vell: it stayed. It is still by the well, with the apples round its feet. Nobody has asked it to move them.
Night. Vell to Brown Hen: Nessa comes on the morning cart. She says store and fetch are two different things, and the mind will learn them apart.
Dawn. Little hill to Brown Hen: the cart is at the crossroads. Nessa is on it. She says the mind is not stupid. The words were the trouble.
Dawn, later. Brown Hen to little hill: the apples are in the cellar. The apprentice carried them down one at a time. Nessa asked it again, in the right words, and it answered store. Nessa said good. She does not say good often.
Night. Brown Hen to all: the cellar is full of apples. The yard smells of them. The cook has made apple cake for the whole inn. Nobody complains about the apprentice now.
%%
Relay message: Three Wells to Vell
Three Wells to Vell, same day, late.
Nessa, I have the map. It is big. It shows a road from Three Wells to Ambrook that goes round the marsh. The road we use now goes straight, and it is wet. I think the old road is better. I am going to walk it on the fair day and see.
Also there is a mark on the map by the east well. It looks like a cat. Was there a cat?
Bel
%%
Vell to Ambrook, relay log, 206
Copied by Vesper, clerk of the archive, from the little hill's book. Autumn of 206. Every message is ordinary.

Dawn. Three Wells to all towers: school opens at the first bell. The new teacher is Rowan. Rowan asks that the bell be a little quieter. The bell has not replied.
Two hours after dawn. Vell to all: the Archive is open. Four texts are in the wrong box. Oren is not angry. Oren is never angry, except about boxes.
Noon. Three Wells to Vell: the baker's daughter, Lise, marries Tobin the carter on the first of Apple. The bells will ring twice. Tell the clerks to come. Bring your own bread.
Noon, later. Vell to Three Wells: seen. The clerks will come. Oren will come late, and apologize for it in writing.
Dusk. Brown Hen to all: the apprentice at the Brown Hen now stores the apples. It answered store, not fetch, four times today. Nessa says the mind is well on its way.
Night. Kettle Ridge to little hill: a fox at the hens. Three hens are missing. Tam has a plan for the fox. The plan involves a hen. The hen has not agreed.
Dawn. Little hill to Kettle Ridge: seen. Tell Tam the fox is clever. Tell the hen to stay in the barn.
Noon. Ambrook to Vell: a pig got into the orchard. It has eaten six apples and is pleased with itself. Hob is chasing it. The pig is winning.
Dusk. Ambrook to Vell: the apples are in, all of them. The orchard is quiet. Four hundred trees and one grey branch, and every one of them is pleased with the week.
Night. Vell to Ambrook: seen. Tell the oldest tree that the Archive says thank you.
Night, later. Ambrook to Vell: told. The tree has not replied. It never does.
Dawn. Little hill to all: first frost on the hill. Lamps lit. The week is over. Good morning from the little hill. Dell.
%%
Relay log, Three Wells, the long job
Three Wells tower log, summer. The east bridge, where the Long Road crosses the stream half an hour from town. Eleven apprentices, six people, nine days. Written in short, with the hour. Kept by Sedge. Nessa lodges at the house at the edge of town and sends the plan.

First day
Dawn. Three Wells to Vell: for the big mind. Stone bridge, one arch, nine paces long. Eleven apprentices. Peg leads. Plan wanted.
Second hour. Vell to Three Wells: from the big mind. The plan is 58 steps. First, the footings on both banks. Second, the oak frame for the arch. Third, the stones, from the sides inward. Fourth, take out the frame. Ask me at steps 10, 30 and 50, and whenever a step is not clear.
Noon. Three Wells to Vell: Peg has laid out 58 cards. It put a tool card at the start of each stretch: pick, chisel, trowel, rope. It also put in three cards that say ask the mind. Nessa did not tell it to.
Dusk. Copperhold to Three Wells: 400 blocks of cobblestone on the road tomorrow. Hesk says to tell Peg: not from any wall.
Dusk. Three Wells to Copperhold: Peg has been told. Peg will not take it as a joke.

Fourth day
Second hour. Three Wells to Vell: step 10 reached. East footing done. Peg asked the big mind, as the cards said.
Second hour. Vell to Three Wells: from the big mind. The west bank is softer than the east. Go deeper there. It costs a day. A bridge on soft ground lasts a year.
Afternoon. Three Wells to Vell: west footing is a day deeper. A chisel broke. Peg took another from the rack and sent the old one to Copperhold. Hesk will send a bill.

Seventh day
Noon. Three Wells to Vell: frame up. Stones laid from both sides. Step 30 passed with no trouble. Step 50 reached: the sides are two blocks apart at the top. Peg stopped and asked.
Noon. Vell to Three Wells: from the big mind. The last stone goes in the middle, at the top of the arch. It will fit tight. Tap it home. Do not force it.
Dusk. Northpoint to Three Wells: seen. First snow here is a hundred days off. Is the arch done? Mira.
Dusk. Three Wells to Northpoint: tomorrow.

Ninth day
Noon. Three Wells to all towers: the frame is out. The arch stands. The east bridge is open.
Afternoon. Three Wells to all towers: Pell's cart was first across, with honey. It did not fall. Pell says it was never in doubt. Pell was seen holding the rail.
Dusk. Vell to Three Wells: from the big mind. Look at the bridge again in spring, after the thaw. Stone moves. All well.
Dusk. Three Wells to all towers: all well at the crossroads. Good night. Sedge.
%%
Crow Hill is quiet tonight
Northpoint tower log, the last of the messages this week. Kept by Mira, who wrote down each one as it came, with the time, the way she was taught.
Northpoint to Crow Hill, first bell: good morning. Snow on the stair again. Lantern has swept it twice.
Crow Hill: no answer.
Northpoint to Crow Hill, second bell: are you there? We have a new loaf. Tell Hal it is not for him.
No answer.
Northpoint to Crow Hill, third bell: please answer. One word will do. Any word.
No answer.
Northpoint to Stone Ring, third bell: Crow Hill is silent. Is your lamp on it?
Stone Ring to Northpoint: our lamp is on. Theirs is off, we can see that much. Calling them too. Nothing.
Northpoint to Stone Ring, fourth bell: the lamps further north went out last night, one after another. Did you see that?
Stone Ring to Northpoint: we did not. We saw the lights. Then we did not see the lamps.
Northpoint to Vell, dusk: Crow Hill silent since the first bell. Stone Ring silent since midday. Please tell Oren.
Vell to Northpoint, dusk: sent. Oren has written it in the book. He says he has never had to write this line before. He says to keep the lamp lit.
Northpoint to all towers, midnight: we are keeping the lamp lit, and we will go on calling. If you hear us, answer, even if it is only to say you cannot.
Saltreach to Northpoint, midnight: seen. The ships in the harbor are lit along every deck tonight. Nobody knows why. Corin says they are waiting.
Northpoint to Saltreach: waiting for what?
Saltreach to Northpoint: he did not say.
Northpoint to all towers, last: keep the lamps lit. Keep the copies safe. Keep working. The relay is quiet. Mira keeps the lamp.
%%
A letter read by relay at the farm
Cass kept this note after autumn market.
Saltreach tower, early bell: farm to Saltreach. Please send the Vell account of Merle, if a copy is on the road.
Saltreach to farm, early bell: copy sent with Pell's cart. Keep it dry.
The copy came folded inside a flour sack. The flour had got into the fold, but the ink was safe. The tutor's hand was neat. I read it aloud to the farm hands after the market.
Merle grew a crystal in layers. The first layer found signs in the drill. The next layer took those signs and found more. Each layer passed its work on. At the end, the crystal gave an answer.
A tutor showed it many drills with known answers. When it gave a wrong answer, the tutor measured the error. The last layer was changed for its part in that error. The tutor then passed a share of the blame back through the layers, toward the first. Each layer changed a little according to its share.
This was not one crystal being told the right answer again and again in the same way. The blame told each layer how its part had helped make the error. With enough drills, the changes could help the whole crystal answer better.
The copy said Merle used such minds to read numbers written on relay letters. A number must be read correctly, or a message might go to the wrong tower. It did not say that every layered mind could learn every task. It said the work depended on the drills and on the changes passed back.
The farm hands asked if the crystal knew it had been wrong. I said the account did not claim that. It gave no reason why a crystal learns at all. It only told us what Merle did.
At the next bell, the tower sent this:
Saltreach to farm, evening: do not leave the account by the stove.
Farm to Saltreach, evening: it is on the dry shelf now.
I put it beside the seed tally. They are both things we must keep straight.
%%
Relay messages: an invitation
Kettle Ridge tower, spring of 206. Kept by Wynn.
Kettle Ridge to all towers: Lise of Kettle Ridge will marry Perrin of Ambrook at the windmill on the 20th of Blossom, at noon. All are asked. Bring a jar of honey and a stool.
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: seen. Perrin asks if the stool is for sitting or for dancing.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: both.
%%
Relay log, Saltreach, the best baker
Saltreach tower log, market day, autumn of 206. Written in short. Kept by Harl.
Dawn. Saltreach to all towers: a letter came on the Long Road with no town on it. Only: To the best baker. Does anyone own it?
Three Wells to Saltreach: seen. That is Ida's. Ida says she is the best baker. She wants the letter.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. Hollis says he is the best baker. He wants the letter too.
Ambrook to Saltreach: seen. Our baker says she is the best. She is at the mill and has not been told yet.
Kettle Ridge to Saltreach: seen. We have no baker. We have Tam. Tam says he is the best baker. Tam is wrong.
Saltreach to all towers: the letter will be opened at noon in the market square. Everyone may come. Whoever it names gets it.
Second bell. Saltreach to all towers: the Heron is not home yet. Lamp lit at the pier. Fen's boat is out with her. They say the fish are biting.
Saltreach to all towers: prices. Cod, two emeralds for ten. Salmon, one emerald each. Pumpkins, one emerald, and they are big.
Noon. Saltreach to all towers: the letter is open. It says: Dear best baker, I ate your pie with honey and pumpkin at the Saltreach market last spring. Please send me how to make it. I am eight. Tilly of the Long Road. She does not know the baker's name. She says: the one with the blue apron.
Three Wells to Saltreach: seen. Ida says that is a Three Wells pie. Ida says Tilly is confused.
Saltreach to Three Wells: Tilly's father is Pell. Pell says he bought it here. Pell says Ida's pie is also good. Pell says this to be safe.
Afternoon. Saltreach to all towers: found her. Bryn at the pie stall, blue apron. She is crying. She says nobody has ever asked for her pie in a letter.
Dusk. Saltreach to all towers: Bryn has written the way to make it. It goes to Tilly on Pell's cart. Bryn asks that nobody tell Ida the secret is a spoon of salt.
Three Wells to Saltreach: seen. Ida already knows. Ida says it is not a secret. It is manners.
The Heron is in. Fen's boat too. Eight hundred fish between them and not one complaint.
Midnight. All well. Harl.
%%
Relay log
Ambrook tower log, late autumn. Kept by Hanne, who has also been asked to keep the cat away from the lamp.
Ambrook to Vell, 06:30: Lamp lit. A grey cat has come into the lamp room in the night. It has sat on the great glass. The light is poor.
Vell to Ambrook: Put the cat out. Shut the door. Use a broom if needed.
Ambrook to Vell: The cat will not come off the glass. It is warm there. The lamp is very warm.
Vell to Ambrook: Then bring it a cushion. Bring it a fish. Bring it anything, and get it off the glass.
Ambrook to Vell, 07:10: Cushion placed. Cat ignored it. Fish placed. Cat ate the fish and went back to the glass.
Vell to Ambrook: Put the cat in the basket. Carry the basket down. It is that or the lamp.
Ambrook to Vell, 07:40: The cat is in the basket. It is saying something rude about us. The lamp is clear.
Ambrook to all towers: Lamp clear. Light on. The cat is at the foot of the stair, and it is not allowed up again.
Ambrook to Vell, 19:00: The cat is back in the lamp room. It has never been so determined.
Vell to Ambrook: Leave it. Keep the lamp lit. It is a warm cat, and there is nothing wrong with the light.
%%
The melon that would not fit the cart
Northpoint messages, the week the melon came up the north road. Kept by Mira, because the messages were too good to lose.
Three Wells to Northpoint: a melon is on Pell's cart. It is the largest melon of the autumn. Please prepare the door.
Northpoint to Three Wells: prepare the door for what? Be specific.
Three Wells to Northpoint: for the melon. It is very large. It will not fit through the cart door, the barn door or the lamp room hatch.
Northpoint to Three Wells: what is the melon for?
Three Wells to Northpoint: nobody knows. A farmer sold it to Pell as a winner for the fair. The fair was yesterday. It did not win. It was too big to be judged.
Northpoint to Three Wells: send it up anyway. We will put it in the store.
Three Wells to Northpoint: it does not fit the store. Pell is sitting on it.
Northpoint to Three Wells: then tell Pell to get off the melon. He is a merchant, not a seat.
Three Wells to Northpoint: he says he is a merchant and a seat both, and will not be argued with.
Northpoint to all towers: one melon is coming, very large, on a cart with nowhere to put it. If anyone has a cart with room, lend it.
Ambrook to Northpoint: we can take it. The orchard ladder is tall enough to reach the top of it.
Northpoint to Ambrook: thank you. The melon is already on the stair. It has gone up one turn and stopped.
Lowmarsh to Northpoint: frogs send their regards. We are not sure about the melon. It sounds like a frog.
Northpoint to Lowmarsh: seen. We will cut it on the step tonight, and give the first slice to Lantern, who has earned it.
Mira's note: The melon was eaten on the step, all of it, by the keeper, the foxes and the snow. Lantern stood a little way off and watched, very still, as if the melon had done something it should not. It was the best melon anyone at Northpoint has tasted this year.
%%
Cass to Neri, summer relay
Northpoint tower to Kettle Ridge tower, Longday 12, late light.
Cass: Is the roof still leaking over the flour bin?
Neri: Yes. It leaks on the flour and nowhere else.
Cass: Put a pot under it.
Neri: I have put three pots under it. The flour is now dry. The floor is wet.
Cass: I will bring a board when I come for the boat ribs.
Neri: Bring two boards. One for the roof and one for the step.
Cass: The step is sound.
Neri: It is sound if you are a goat.
Cass: I will bring two boards.
Neri: Good. I have saved you a bowl of melon.
Cass: Keep it in the cool room.
Neri: I did. The cat found it.
Cass: Save the bowl, then.
%%
Relay log, Saltreach, the dry well
Saltreach tower log, autumn of 201. Written in short. Kept by Ilse.
Dawn. Saltreach to all towers: the market well is dry. Not low. Dry. The bucket came up with a frog and a boot.
Three Wells to Saltreach: seen. We have three wells. Dace says he can spare one. He is not sure which.
Saltreach to Three Wells: please do not send a well. Send barrels.
Lowmarsh to Saltreach: seen. We have more water than we want. Six barrels on the way by cart.
Noon. Saltreach to Copperhold: do you have anyone who digs wells?
Copperhold to Saltreach: seen. Hesk says two miners, ropes and a lamp. Leaving now. Hesk says put nothing else in the well until they come.
Saltreach to Copperhold: seen. The boot is out. We did not put it in.
Two days later. Saltreach to all towers: the miners went down at dawn. A stone the size of a barrel had fallen across the spring. They lifted it with ropes. The water came up so fast the bucket went down and came up again before they let go of the rope. Three miners drank first. Then the whole market.
Three Wells to Saltreach: seen. Dace asks which of his wells is best. He has forgotten.
Copperhold to Saltreach: seen. Hesk says it is cold and sweet. Keep the boot.
All well. Ilse.
%%
Relay log: the north shaft, winter
Copied at Vell by Oren, archive clerk, from the tower slips.

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 2nd hour after dusk:
Crew at the north shaft asks for a plan for the new drift. Their order cards are sent with it.

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 2nd hour after dusk:
Plan sent. Each card holds one job at a time. Keep one card for each apprentice.

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 4th hour after dusk:
Crew Nine has written its own card for the stone wall. It reads:
> build the wall at the drift mouth, two courses
= build
> haul the stone from the cart to the wall
= haul

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 4th hour after dusk:
Let Crew Nine keep its card. It has the sum right. Check the wall at the first hour of the morning.

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 1st hour of the morning:
Wall checked. It is good. The copper vein is wider than the drift. Crew asks what to do.

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 1st hour of the morning:
Dig the vein, but leave one pillar of stone in the middle to hold the roof. Mark it with a torch.

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 2nd hour of the morning:
Pillar in place. Torch lit. Crew says it is cold at the bottom.

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 2nd hour of the morning:
It is always cold at the bottom. Wear a coat, and stop when you are tired.
%%
Relay: Ambrook, the wedding
Sent from the new tower at Ambrook, on the hill above the mill pond, by the keeper Linnet, with Bel at the Three Wells lamp. The wedding is of Ambrook's miller's daughter to a drover from the Halfway Inn. It is the first wedding the new tower has lit for. Written in spring.

Ambrook to Three Wells, first hour after noon.
The wedding is set for the first day of Blossom. The mill is decked with ribbons. The bride says the tower lamp must be lit for the dance, as a sign.

Three Wells to Ambrook, first hour.
A sign of what? Tell her we will bring the bells.

Ambrook to Three Wells, second hour.
She says the sign of the lamp. She says the drover asked for it. He is afraid of the dark.

Three Wells to Ambrook, second hour.
He is a drover, he has walked the Long Road in every weather. Tell him the lamp will be lit. Tell him we will light it ourselves if the keeper falls asleep.

Ambrook to Three Wells, third hour.
Linnet says she is not asleep. Linnet says she has not slept since the tower was finished.

Three Wells to Ambrook, third hour.
Then get some sleep, Linnet. The bride is nervous, and you are the only one who can light the lamp.

Ambrook to Three Wells, fourth hour.
Done. The lamp is lit. The dance has started. The drover is dancing, badly. The bride is laughing. The mill wheel is turning in the dark, very slowly, to the tune.

Three Wells to Ambrook, fourth hour.
Good. Congratulations to both. Tell the drover the lamp is for him.

Ambrook to Three Wells, fifth hour.
He says thank you. He says the lamp is very bright. He says, tell Three Wells, it is nearly as bright as a wedding.
%%
Relay log, market day, the flour
Kept by Mira, relay keeper. Times by the lamp clock.

07:00 Northpoint to all towers: market day. Bread short, flour late.
07:08 Vell to Northpoint: flour left Vell on the first cart. Expect it by noon.
07:16 Three Wells to Northpoint: Ida says she will bake with the sacks that are here. Hollis sends his love and says the bread is small.
07:22 Northpoint to Three Wells: the bread is always small when Hollis sends his love. Tell Hollis to bake big.
07:25 Ambrook to Northpoint: pickers wanted for the late apples. Linnet.
08:00 Kettle Ridge to Northpoint: the windmill has two sails in place. The third is in the ditch. Tam says it can wait.
08:05 Northpoint to Kettle Ridge: the sail can wait. The bread cannot. Send the flour on the next cart.
08:30 Copperhold to Northpoint: coal is ready. Send the cart and two men. Hesk says the men are for talking.
08:34 Northpoint to Copperhold: the men are for lifting. The talking is extra.
10:00 Northpoint to all towers: the square is full. The bread is gone. The flour has come, and the day is good.
%%
Relay log, Saltreach, a lost letter
Saltreach tower log, market day, autumn of 204. Written in short. Kept by Harl.
Saltreach to all towers: lost at the fish market, one letter. Blue wax. For Granny Edda, Ambrook, from her grandson Tib, age eight. He dropped it between the cod and the salmon.
Ambrook to Saltreach: seen. Edda has waited a month for this letter. Please find it.
Three Wells to Saltreach: seen. No letter here. Only a pie.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. Oren looked in the lost letters box. Four from Saltreach. None blue. He looked twice.
Noon. Saltreach to all towers: Sage's class was walking to the market. They saw a gull with something blue in its beak. They chased it down the pier. The gull dropped it in the water. The fish seller got it out with a net.
Dusk. Saltreach to Ambrook: found. A little wet. A little fishy. It says: Dear Granny, I have a tooth out. It is in a jar. Come and see.
Ambrook to Saltreach: seen. Edda is laughing and crying. Is the tooth coming on the cart?
Saltreach to Ambrook: the tooth stays with Tib. The letter goes on Pell's cart tomorrow. Sage has written a second copy for safety.
All well. Harl.
%%
Relay log, Kettle Ridge, the wheel
Kettle Ridge tower log, the ninth of Apple, 196. Written in short. Kept by Wynn.
Dawn. Three Wells to all towers: Jory's mill wheel at Ambrook cracked. The mill is stopped.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: from Tam. Two oak planks on Pell's cart tomorrow. Ten sacks of flour too.
Noon. Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: seen. Jory is cross with the water. It runs past the wheel and turns nothing.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Nessa says the water has the right idea. It goes on to the next mill. A page about it comes by cart.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. A page about water? Wynn says that is seventeen words and I owe two emeralds.
%%
Festival Firewood, Three Wells
Yew's book, autumn of 191

The mayor asked for wood for the autumn festival. I said I could bring charcoal, but the cooks needed kindling too. They have three hearths and a habit of lighting all three at once.
I sent word by relay.

Three Wells to the little tower on the road, morning.
Yew asks how many bundles the cooks need.

Little tower to Three Wells, a short while later.
Ask the school. The mayor's note came without a number.

Three Wells to the school house, noon.
How many bundles for the festival hearths?

School house to Three Wells.
Six. The children will help stack them. They have promised to carry only one bundle each.

I sent six bundles and two sacks of charcoal. I marked each bundle with a strip of birch bark. The children stacked them in a row beside the bakery. One boy carried a bundle to the wrong hearth and said it had walked there by itself.
I asked the children to count the stacks. They counted seven bundles.
The boy had put one bundle behind the bakery door. He said it was waiting for its turn.
The cooks used the kindling to light the hearths. They made beetroot soup, bread, and baked apples with honey. The mayor gave the first bowl to the oldest baker. The baker gave it to the youngest child, who had been carrying wood all afternoon.
There was dancing in the square after dark. A fiddler played under the oak. People stamped their feet and shook the mud from their boots. I stayed by the fire to keep the charcoal dry.
Pell came by with wool from Kettle Ridge. He said my coat smelled of smoke.
I said his wool smelled of sheep.
He said that was how he knew it was good wool.
The children brought me the empty baskets. One had a bun in it. I asked who had left it.
Nobody knew. I ate it before the cooks could find a use for it.
%%
Relay log, the broken lamp at Saltreach
Saltreach tower log, winter of 206. Kept by Harl, who has kept it for nine years and does not intend to stop.
Saltreach to Vell, 05:50: Lamp failed in the night. Glass cracked on the north side. No messages sent since midnight.
Vell to Saltreach: Lamp out at Saltreach since midnight. Ships are waiting. Can you send by hand?
Saltreach to Vell: We will send by runner. Runner gone to the quay now.
Saltreach to Lowmarsh, 07:12: The lamp is out. Please say if you can see our fire from the marsh.
Lowmarsh to Saltreach: We see a dull light. Not your lamp. Our fire. Sorry.
Saltreach to Copperhold, 08:30: Please ask the forge to send a pane of glass by the Long Road cart.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Pane on the cart. Due in three days. The cart is slow. The cart is always slow.
Saltreach to Vell, 13:15: Pane arrived. Cut to size by the glassmaker's boy. Fitting it now.
Saltreach to Vell, 15:02: Pane in. Glue set. Lamp lit. Saltreach back on the line.
Vell to Saltreach: Seen. Good work.
Saltreach to all towers: Thank you for the patience. The ships are sailing on the morning tide. Harl.
Harl adds: I want it written down that the glassmaker's boy did the whole fitting alone. He put his thumb through the first pane. Then he did it again.
%%
Relay log, Northpoint, autumn
Northpoint tower log, the autumn. Written in short, one line for each message, as it came. Kept by Mira, who was taught to write the times and to leave out the opinions.
Northpoint to Vell, first bell: all well here. Frost on the rail. Lantern has the stove going.
Vell to Northpoint, second bell: seen. Oren says the copies for the north road are finished. Send for them when the cart comes.
Northpoint to Crow Hill, first bell: good morning. How is the snow up your way?
Crow Hill to Northpoint, second bell: no answer. Calling again.
Northpoint to Crow Hill, third bell: no answer. Trying Stone Ring instead.
Stone Ring to Northpoint, third bell: seen. Crow Hill was quiet at noon too.
Northpoint to Vell, fourth bell: Crow Hill has not answered since the first bell yesterday. If you can, send word to their keeper by the Long Road. Not urgent.
Vell to Northpoint, fourth bell: sent. Oren says it is not urgent, and asks their keeper to stop being so sensible.
Northpoint to all towers, dusk: lamps lit. Glass clean. Crow Hill still silent. If anyone sees their keeper, say hello.
Saltreach to Northpoint, dusk: seen. Fog here. Fishers in early. No news of the north.
Northpoint to Saltreach, dusk: thank you. We are the cold end of the line, as usual.
Lamps lit. Messages passed. Mira.
%%
Relay log, long nights, the sock
Kept by Mira, relay keeper. Times by the lamp clock. The nights are long at Northpoint, and the messages get longer with them.

18:02 Northpoint to all towers: dark. Torches lit at every gate. The lamp boy is on the stair.
18:09 Ridge Hill to Northpoint: torches lit. Nothing on the road but the wind.
18:15 Three Wells to Northpoint: torches lit at the wells. A wolf on the east road, seen and gone. Walk in pairs.
18:18 Northpoint to Three Wells: walk in pairs. Thank you.
19:40 Vell to Northpoint: a sock has come up the line in the cart. It has your name on it, Mira. Oren says it is not his fault.
19:44 Northpoint to Vell: it is not my fault either. It is Lantern's, and the fox's, and I will not discuss it on the line.
20:10 Copperhold to Northpoint: the ninth shift is down. All well below. Hesk says he has had his bread.
20:12 Northpoint to Copperhold: all well above. Mira has had her bread, and gave half to the fox.
21:00 Northpoint to all towers: all well at Northpoint. Lamp lit. Glass clean. The fox is under the stairs. Good night.
21:03 Ridge Hill to Northpoint: all well here. Good night.
21:05 Three Wells to Northpoint: all well. Good night.
%%
Relay notes, Saltreach, autumn
Written by Cass at the farm road.
Saltreach tower, first bell: farm to Saltreach. Two carts of beetroot ready. Cass.
Saltreach to farm, first bell: seen. Bring them after market.
Farm to Saltreach, second bell: one cart has a broken wheel. No harm. The wheel is louder than the ox.
Saltreach to farm, second bell: use the spare wheel by the shed.
Farm to Saltreach, noon: done. Ox wants his supper.
Saltreach to farm, noon: so do the rest of us.
%%
Relay: the tutor's round, 201
Kept by Odo at the ferry house. The tutor from Vell came up the north road this winter with four minds in crates. She is the first tutor to come this far, so the ferry house kept every message. Never send an untested mind to the fields. The line says it four times.

Dusk, 2nd Longnight. VELL to NORTHPOINT: Tutor Gilda leaves at dawn with four minds in crates. Test them at the ferry house before they go on.
Dawn, 3rd Longnight. NORTHPOINT to VELL: Heard. Ferry is iced at the Narrows. The cart will cross on the rope.
Noon, 3rd Longnight. FERRY HILL to NORTHPOINT: Cart is across. Crates are dry. One corner cracked. The mind inside is whole.
Dusk, 3rd Longnight. NORTHPOINT to HALFWAY: Tutor Gilda wants the test box sent up on the next cart. Bring the cards.
Dawn, 4th Longnight. HALFWAY to NORTHPOINT: Test box is on the cart. The inn has eleven beds and a riddle board with one corner gone. Tell the tutor the riddle is still there.
Noon, 4th Longnight. NORTHPOINT to VELL: Testing at the ferry house. Four minds in the drill room. Odo keeps the lamp.
Dusk, 4th Longnight. NORTHPOINT to VELL: Results. Mind one, 96 in a hundred. Mind two, 91. Mind three, 88. Mind four, 93.
Night, 4th Longnight. VELL to NORTHPOINT: Heard. Mind three goes back to Vell. It will be drilled again on better pages, then tested again. Do not send it to the fields.
Dawn, 5th Longnight. NORTHPOINT to VELL: Heard. Mind three is in its crate, by the stove, away from the draft.
Dusk, 5th Longnight. NORTHPOINT to HALFWAY: Minds one and two go up the north farms tomorrow. Mind four goes to the stores at Halfway. Gilda says thank you for the stove.
Night, 5th Longnight. FERRY HILL to NORTHPOINT: Gilda's cart is over the Narrows. Tell her the rope is still good.
Dawn, 6th Longnight. NORTHPOINT to VELL: Gilda is on the north road. Odo says she owes him a coat, and that he will not be asking for it back.
%%
Relay log, Three Wells, the east wall
Three Wells tower log, summer. Written in short, with the hour. Kept by Sedge. Nessa is at the Brook house, at the edge of town, with nine apprentices and one big job: the new east wall.

Dawn. Three Wells to Vell: Nessa's crew starts the east wall. Nine apprentices, all tested. Peg leads.
Second hour. Three Wells to Vell: for the big mind. The wall is 120 blocks, cobblestone, cobblestone, deep stone. Top row one block out. Torches every eight.
Third hour. Vell to Three Wells: from the big mind. The plan is 31 steps. Start at the gate and work east. Let the crew write its own order cards, and check each card against the wall.
Noon. Three Wells to Vell: Peg has laid out 31 cards. Nessa checked every one. 29 are right. Two say haul where the wall wants build. Peg put both right before Nessa said a word.
Afternoon. Three Wells to Vell: the crew has stopped at the gate. The gate frame and the old ditch do not meet. Peg sent the question to the big mind by the relay post.
Afternoon. Vell to Three Wells: from the big mind. Move the gate three blocks north. The ditch is older than the wall, and water goes first.
Dusk. Northpoint to Three Wells: seen. First snow is a hundred days off here. That is not long for a wall. Mira.
Dusk. Three Wells to Northpoint: the wall will be done by then. Nessa says so, and Nessa is exact.
Dusk. Three Wells to all towers: east wall, gate to the second torch: done. Nessa asks that it be written down that Peg asked. All well at the crossroads. Sedge.
%%
Relay log
Ambrook tower log, the market week, late autumn. Kept by Hanne, who was not asked to keep it, and did so anyway.
Ambrook to Three Wells, 08:00: Market open. Honey stall has four jars left. The dark honey is gone.
Three Wells to Ambrook: The dark honey went to Dace. He paid two emeralds and asked for the recipe.
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: Tam, Ama wants to know if your pumpkins are still on the cart. She says they have been on the cart since the fair.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: They are on the cart. The cart is in the yard. The pumpkins are in the cart. We have not been able to move them.
Ambrook to Saltreach, 11:20: Your net mender was in the square asking for the lamp keeper. She said she wanted to ask about a letter.
Saltreach to Ambrook: What letter?
Ambrook to Saltreach: She did not say. She only asked if anyone on the north line had received a letter in the last month, and whether the sender was still alive.
Saltreach to Ambrook: We have heard nothing. Tell her to come up to the tower. We will look in the book.
Ambrook to all towers, 14:00: Quiet on the line since noon. Sending the weather as usual. Clear to the north. Clear to the south. Wind light from the east.
Vell to Ambrook: Seen. Weather noted.
Ambrook to Vell, 22:10: The lamp is lit. The stars are very bright over the north. Nothing else. Sending anyway.
%%
Relay log: the quay flood, Deepsnow
Kept by Cade, potter, from the slate at the farm gate.
Saltreach, first light, to Vell hill: Thaw came in the night. The quay is under water to the second step. Boats tied to the posts. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: Received. Sending men from the Archive yard with rope. Reply.
Saltreach, morning: The harbor wall is holding. The slip is not. The wood store is floating. Reply.
Three Wells, morning, to Saltreach: The school is dry. The bell is ringing for the children to come home. Reply.
Saltreach, noon: Water higher at the fish market. Price board gone. Reply.
Vell hill, noon: Board found by the dock. Fish price is still the same. Reply.
Kettle Ridge, noon, to Saltreach: Ridge road is dry. Sending barrows of stone to the harbor wall. Reply.
Saltreach, afternoon: Fish market moved up to the harbor steps. Price board nailed back up. Reply.
Vell hill, afternoon: Good. Ask the net mender for three new nets before the thaw ends. Reply.
Saltreach, dusk: Stone received. Wall is higher by a hand. The net mender says she will mend them, and asks that the Archive pay in fish. Reply.
Saltreach, midnight: Water going down. The slip is clear. The benches are wet. Reply.
Vell hill, midnight: Good. All towers hear. Rest the men. Reply.
Saltreach, first light: Men are resting. The net mender's window is still lit by the quay. Reply.
%%
Relay log, Saltreach, the blame
Saltreach tower log, spring of 158. Written in short. Kept by Orrin.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. My layered mind gives wrong answers. The wrong shows in the answer. But which layer made it?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. All of them, a little. That is the trouble. It is also the cure.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. Explain.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. First, measure how wrong the answer was. Call that the blame.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. The last layer gets the blame first. It changes its numbers a little, so the answer comes out less wrong.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. And the layers before it?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. The last layer tells the one before: here is your share. What you gave me made my answer wrong. That layer changes its numbers. Then it tells the one before it. Back to the first.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. How big is each share?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. As big as the cell mattered to the answer. A cell that did not matter gets none.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. So the blame goes backward.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Yes. From the answer to the first layer. Then the next example.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. That is all?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. That is all. It is slow. It works.
All well. Orrin.
%%
Relay log: the new drift, Deepsnow
Copied at Vell by Oren, archive clerk, from the tower slips. Long, because the crews were busy all day.

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 1st hour of the morning:
Three crews at the north shaft. Crew One digs. Crew Five hauls. Crew Eight sets the timbers. Their card asks for one plan for the whole drift, from the shaft mouth to the vein.

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 1st hour of the morning:
Plan it in steps. Do one step, then look. If the look says wrong, go back one step, not to the start. Here is the first card for Crew One:
> build the first ten paces of the drift, square
= build
> haul the spoil from the drift to the shaft mouth
= haul
> stay at the shaft mouth until the look is done
= stay

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 3rd hour of the morning:
Crew One has dug the ten paces. The crew looked. The roof is sound at the first five paces and not at the sixth. Crew Eight has set a timber at the sixth. Crew Five's card asks what to haul.

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 3rd hour of the morning:
Haul the spoil from the first five paces only. Leave the sixth until the timber is set. Then look again.

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 5th hour of the morning:
Timber set. Look made. Roof sound. Crew Eight's card asks whether a timber should stand on every fifth pace.

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 5th hour of the morning:
Yes. A timber every fifth pace, and a look at each one. Crew Eight's card is right, and it matches the plan. Do not change it.

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 8th hour of the morning:
The copper vein has shown at the twentieth pace. It is wide, and it runs to the left, under the wall. Crew One has stopped digging.

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 8th hour of the morning:
Stop digging the vein. Leave one pillar, as before. Change the card to stay, and wait for the next order. I do not know yet how far the vein runs. I will know when you have measured it.

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 1st hour after noon:
Measured. Twenty paces of vein so far, and thinner at the far end. Crew Five's card asks about the wet stone.

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 1st hour after noon:
Wet stone is not a fault. Copper comes with water. Put a bucket under the drip, and mark the card. Do not drink the water.

Copperhold tower to Three Wells house, 9th hour after noon:
Crew Eight says the timber is in. Crew One is staying. Crew Five is hauling. Shall the count be written?

Three Wells house to Copperhold tower, 9th hour after noon:
Write it. Ten paces of drift by the first day, and forty by the day after tomorrow, if the roof holds. Then all the crews sleep.

The slips came in order, and the house answered each one. The copper went up the hill on the next cart.
%%
Relay post: the market at Vell, Thaw
Slips from the relay post in the Vell market, copied by Oren, archive clerk, for the week.

Vell market to Three Wells, 1st hour: The Ambrook stream is over the low road. Carts go by the hill. Bring the flour the long way.
Three Wells to Vell market, 2nd hour: Seen. The bakery will be late. Tell Ida the flour is coming by the hill.
Vell market to Lowmarsh, 4th hour: The brown cow with the white nose, called Hazel, has walked off from the pens. Last seen by the well.
Lowmarsh to Vell market, 5th hour: Seen. We will look in the reeds. She does not like the reeds.
%%
Yew's Charcoal List
Autumn, 161

Three Wells relay to Vell, second bell.
Yew asks if the Archive wants charcoal for the copying room.
Vell relay replies, third bell.
Yes. Send two sacks by cart. Keep them dry.

Yew's wife says two sacks will not fit beside the turnips.
Yew says the turnips can ride on top.
The turnips say nothing. They are turnips.

Three Wells relay to Vell, fifth bell.
The sacks are ready. One has a small tear.
Vell relay replies, sixth bell.
Mend the tear. We have enough loose charcoal on the floor.

Yew says the Archive clerk has a good eye for sacks.
Yew's wife says the clerk has never carried one.

At the farm outside Three Wells, the charcoal shed stands by the oak hedge. Yew stacks the sacks on a shelf above the beetroot. The beetroot is not meant for the Archive. This is written so nobody sends it by mistake.
%%
Relay log, Ambrook tower, spring 130
Kept by Rook, orchard keeper, from the tower at Ambrook. The year the picture came to the hamlet. Short.

Three Wells to Ambrook: the tutor Hale is on the road to you with Kester's picture. Expect him by dusk.
Ambrook to Three Wells: seen.
Three Wells to Ambrook: also, a creeper blew up the wall of the market. Nobody hurt. Eleven blocks gone. The mayor wants to know whether the orchard has any stone.
Ambrook to Three Wells: we have twenty blocks. Sending by cart tomorrow. How did it happen?
Three Wells to Ambrook: a creeper got in. The wall was low. Nobody saw it come.
Ambrook to Three Wells: lesson: keep the wall high.
Three Wells to Ambrook: lesson noted. The mayor says to say thank you.
Ambrook to Vell: Hale arrives tonight. The bet with Fenn is still open.
Vell to Ambrook: seen.
Rook.
%%
Relay talk: who picks the pick
Three Wells tower log, summer. A long talk on the line between Nessa, at the house at the edge of town, and Hesk, at Copperhold, about tools. Kept by Sedge. It was the longest talk on the line that day, and the least rude.

Dawn. Copperhold to Three Wells: for Nessa, from Hesk. Clank takes the good pick off the rack each morning. Nobody told it to. Bram gets the old one and wants to know why.
Dawn. Three Wells to Copperhold: seen. Does Clank look at the pick, or at the stone?
Second hour. Copperhold to Three Wells: the stone first. Then the rack. Then the pick. Bram says it takes the pick the stone deserves.
Second hour. Three Wells to Copperhold: good. That is a plan, made before the first swing, which is the only place a plan can be made. Do not stop it.
Third hour. Copperhold to Three Wells: I was not going to. I stopped it once by accident. It put the pick back, took another and went on. Hard to argue with.
Noon. Three Wells to Copperhold: does it sharpen its own pick?
Noon. Copperhold to Three Wells: it carries it to the forge before the wet level. Nobody told it that either. Bram forgot twice last winter. Bram is now being talked to.
Afternoon. Three Wells to Copperhold: has Clank ever asked the Copperhold mind anything?
Afternoon. Copperhold to Three Wells: once. It wanted to know whether to take the lamp or the lantern down. The mind said the lantern, because it is wet below. Clank took the lantern.
Afternoon. Three Wells to Copperhold: and the time before that?
Afternoon. Copperhold to Three Wells: it took the lamp. The lamp went out in the wet, and Clank stood in the dark and waited for us. After that it asked. I prefer the asking.
Dusk. Three Wells to Copperhold: write that down for the Archive, Hesk.
Dusk. Copperhold to Three Wells: I will write it on a clean day. Today the coal is on everything. All well at the mine gate. Hesk.
%%
The Brown Hen cat, autumn 163
Copied by Vesper, clerk of the archive, from the little hill's book.

Dawn. Little hill to Vell: the Brown Hen cat is on the roof again.
Two hours after dawn. Vell to little hill: tell the cat it is not a lamp.
Dusk. Little hill to Three Wells: the cat has eaten a fish on the bakery step. The bakers say it is not theirs.
Night. Three Wells to little hill: seen. The bakers did not feed it. Nobody knows whose cat it is.
%%
Relay: snow on the north road
Copied from the line book at the ferry house, Northpoint, by Odo.

Dusk, 4th Frost. NORTHPOINT to FERRY HILL: Snow to the fourth stone. Road shut. Nothing heavy.
Dusk, 4th Frost. FERRY HILL to NORTHPOINT: Heard. Lamps lit on our side.
Dawn, 5th Frost. NORTHPOINT to HALFWAY: Cart waits at the Narrows. Do not send flour up until the road is cut.
Dawn, 5th Frost. HALFWAY to NORTHPOINT: Flour came round by the ice. Tell Odo it is wet.
Noon, 5th Frost. NORTHPOINT to HALFWAY: Odo says it is always wet. Send the cart anyway.
%%
Relay log: the long wall, Frost
Copied at Vell by Oren, archive clerk, from the tower slips.

Lowmarsh tower to Three Wells house, 1st hour after dusk:
Crew Six is building the long wall round the drying yard. At the north corner the pattern does not fit. The stones come out one too many.

Three Wells house to Lowmarsh tower, 1st hour after dusk:
Check the corner stone. It is the one with the crack. Set it at the end of the course, not the start.

Lowmarsh tower to Three Wells house, 2nd hour after dusk:
The cracked stone was set at the end. The pattern still does not fit. The corner is one stone long.

Three Wells house to Lowmarsh tower, 2nd hour after dusk:
Then the cracked stone is the wrong one. Take it out, and use a whole stone from the store.

Lowmarsh tower to Three Wells house, 3rd hour after dusk:
Done. The pattern fits. The crew changed its card to match the corner. The new card reads:
> build the north corner, one stone less
= build

Three Wells house to Lowmarsh tower, 3rd hour after dusk:
Good card. Keep it. Tell the crew it was right to change the card, and right to ask.

Lowmarsh tower to Three Wells house, 4th hour after dusk:
Crew Six sends one more card, with a question on the back. The question reads: why does the wall need a lip?

Three Wells house to Lowmarsh tower, 4th hour after dusk:
A lip gives a spider no hold. It keeps the yard and the wall apart, and it keeps children from climbing up to look over. It is not much of a reason, but it is a true one.
%%
Relay log: the well ran dry, 204
Copied by Bel. The well is by our door, and it has never once run dry before. Mama says that is not a reason to be upset. Bel says it is.

Dawn. Three Wells to Vell: the well at the farm is dry. The bucket hits the bottom and makes no sound.
Two hours after dawn. Vell to Three Wells: send word on the drill. Is the mind still at the farm?
Noon. Three Wells to Vell: yes. It is in the barn with the test box. The well is dry, not the drill.
Noon, later. Vell to Three Wells: the tutor says a test is not spoiled by a dry well. The test is the same for every mind, whatever the weather. That is what makes it fair.
Dusk. Three Wells to Vell: we walked the mind to the spring at the foot of the hill and back. The water is there, if you carry it.
Night. Vell to Three Wells: the mind has been tested on the new board, which it has never seen. Eight of ten. It did not remember the old board. It did the work on the new one.
Night, later. Three Wells to Vell: the well is wet again. Bel did not believe it until she put her hand in.
%%
Relay notes, Ambrook, a lost goat
Copied by Lenn, charcoal burner, from the tower on the hill. Summer.

Ambrook to Three Wells, noon: brown goat lost. White ear. Answers to Biscuit. Seen?
Three Wells to Ambrook, afternoon: no goat. A brown goat at the fair eating a hat. Not ours.
Ambrook to Three Wells, evening: that is the one. Whose hat?
Three Wells to Ambrook: mayor's. Dace says keep the goat.
%%
Relay: orders for the apprentices
Messages at the Kettle Ridge tower, a winter evening, as copied by Briar for the bridge book. I live a short walk from the tower. I come up at dusk for the news.

At dusk:
From: Vell, relay house
To: all towers
Words: 26
Orders for the apprentices in the fields. Give each its last order again tonight. Say it the same way. Keep the fields until we come back.
End

A little later:
From: Kettle Ridge, Wynn
To: Vell, relay house
Words: 14
Seen. Passed to every farm on the ridge. Tam asks who is coming back.
End

Then:
From: Vell, relay house
To: Kettle Ridge, Wynn
Words: 11
Seen. We have no answer for Tam. Tell him we asked.
End

I went home with the order. My apprentice is called Post. It tends the carrot rows by my gate and does the bridge lamp at dusk. I gave it the order, the way Vell asked: farm. It stood a moment and looked at me. Then it went out to the rows in the dark, as it does every night, and began.

I lit the torch at the gate. I left it burning.

The next noon, from Three Wells: the spring fair will be held as always. Seed orders by the end of Deepsnow. Dace. It was a good message. I read it twice.

On the road home I met Tam, with Pip a step behind him. Tam said: Pip knows its field. It does not know who it is keeping it for. Neither do I. Then he said good night, and Pip went on after him, in the dark, with the lantern.
%%
Relay log, Ambrook, the honey week
Ambrook tower log, the autumn. Written in short. Kept by the keeper, Hanne, for the mill and the orchard.
Ambrook to Vell, 06:05: Lamp lit. Mist on the pond. Honey carts loading.
Vell to Ambrook: Seen. Send the dark honey first. Oren wants it for the Archive kitchen.
Ambrook to Three Wells, 07:20: Two jars for the square. Ida asks for the good comb, not the broken one.
Three Wells to Ambrook: Comb noted. Ida says thank you. Dace says he is sending the boy with the scale.
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge, 09:40: Honey for the Kettle Ridge hives? Ama asks if the bees have been eating the windfalls again.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: Yes. Tell Ama the bees are drunk and happy and nobody is hurt.
Ambrook to all towers, 12:10: The cat has got into the honey room again. It is on the top shelf. It is not coming down.
Vell to Ambrook: Tell the cat it is not on the list.
Ambrook to Vell: The cat says it is on the list now.
Ambrook to Northpoint, 16:00: Mira, the warm coat is on the cart for you. Honey in the jar with the red cloth.
Northpoint to Ambrook: Seen. Thank you. The coat is a good size. The honey is not for me. It is for Lantern, who has been holding it all day and will not put it down.
Ambrook to Saltreach, 18:30: The Heron's cart is late. Is it on the road?
Saltreach to Ambrook: Cart is on the road. Late but coming. Keep the lamp lit at the bridge.
Ambrook to all towers, 21:00: Lamp lit. Hanne on the stair. Good night, all.
%%
Relay: a boy who ran off
Kettle Ridge tower, a night in winter. Copied by Briar, bridge keeper, for the bridge book. Written in short.

Haste. Dusk. Kettle Ridge to all towers: boy missing from the bridge farm. Eight years old, red scarf. Last seen walking up the north road.
Dusk, a little later. Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: seen. No boy here. Torches lit on the north road.
Midnight. North road two to Kettle Ridge: found. Asleep on the cobblestone at the waymark below our tower. He says he went to see the lights. He is cold and not sorry.
Midnight. Kettle Ridge to all towers: boy found. Thank you. All well.

He is my grandson. He has been told about the north road. He nodded the way he nods when he means to go again.
%%
Saltreach to all towers, spring of 193
Saltreach tower log, the sixth of Blossom. Written by Fern, weaver.
Saltreach to all towers: the loom hall roof is mended. Rain came in on the blue wool and the blue wool ran. If your wife has a blue coat from us that went pale, that is why. We are sorry. Bring it in and we will dye it again free.
Vell to Saltreach: Oren here. The archive has two blue coats. One is pale. We thought it was the fashion.
Saltreach to Vell: it was not the fashion. Bring both.
Three Wells to Saltreach: Dace asks if the loom hall sells thread by the basket.
Saltreach to Three Wells: yes. Nine emeralds a basket, twelve for the good grey.
Ambrook to Saltreach: Ama says the bees are out and the hives are loud. Spring is here at last.
Saltreach to Ambrook: tell Ama the boats are out too. The herring came back with the bees.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Hesk asks if you want copper wire for the loom. He has a spool he cannot use.
Saltreach to Copperhold: tell Hesk yes. Tell him the loom eats wire like a goat eats grass.
Kettle Ridge to Saltreach: Tam says the wind off your harbor is better than his. His windmills are jealous.
Saltreach to Kettle Ridge: our wind is wet. Yours is dry. Keep yours.
Fern out.
%%
Relay log, Kettle Ridge, the snow week
Kettle Ridge tower log, winter of 204. Written in short. Kept by Sefa, who keeps the mill and the tower both, because nobody else would.
Kettle Ridge to Vell, 06:10: Snow to the knee on the ridge. Lamp lit. All well here.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: seen. Snow to the knee at Vell too. Keep the lamp.
Kettle Ridge to Northpoint, 07:40: Mira, the wind is north. Is your weather coming south?
Northpoint to Kettle Ridge, 07:52: Yes. Two days. Tie the sails. Tell Tam.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells, 09:00: A child is missing from the ridge road. Bel's cousin, Ney, age six. Went out before the bell. Red hat, blue coat.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge, 09:31: Seen nothing at the north well. Sending two men up the road. Lamp on.
Kettle Ridge to Brin's farm, 10:02: Anyone seen Ney? Please look in the barn and the hen house.
Brin's farm to Kettle Ridge, 10:20: Not in the barn. Not in the hen house. Biscuit is in the hen house, very cross.
Kettle Ridge to all towers, 11:15: Ney still missing. Keep the lamps lit. Send anyone who can walk.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge, 13:05: Found. Ney is in the old shelter by the Brown Hen. Cold, not hurt. Eating bread. Sent home with the carter.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Kettle Ridge to Vell, 16:40: The south lamp on this tower is cracked. Glass gone, a hand wide. The wind comes straight in.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Can you mend it before dark?
Kettle Ridge to Vell: Not before dark. I have a pane from the mill shed. Will try in the morning.
Vell to all towers: All lamps lit. Kettle Ridge lamp cracked, will be mended. Good night.
Kept by Sefa. Written down as it came.
%%
Relay log: the harvest count, Deepsnow
Copied at Vell by Oren, archive clerk. The archive keeps the harvest count every year, for the yearbook.

Vell tower to Three Wells house, 3rd hour after dusk:
Oren asks for the harvest count. The whole year, please, all of it.

Three Wells house to Vell tower, 3rd hour after dusk:
Wheat: 40 sacks from Ambrook, 22 from Kettle Ridge, 9 from the strip by the west well.
Beetroot: 912 from Kettle Ridge. The crew counted in the dark, so recount in the morning.
Honey: 61 jars from the hives on the hill.
Apples: 2,400 from Ambrook. The crew has had some. So have the foxes.

Vell tower to Three Wells house, 4th hour after dusk:
Ambrook's slip says the wheat is 41. Which is right?

Three Wells house to Vell tower, 4th hour after dusk:
Both are right. One sack fell off the cart at the bridge. Ambrook counted it going back on, and this house counted it coming off. Write 40, and write a note.

Vell tower to Three Wells house, 5th hour after dusk:
Written. Is the count the same as last year?

Three Wells house to Vell tower, 5th hour after dusk:
Last year the wheat was 44, and the honey was lower. It was a good harvest in every row.
Good harvest. Write it down.
%%
Yew's Farm Book
Autumn, 203

The farm sits west of Three Wells, where the packed earth road bends past the oak hedge. The town is near enough for the bell to carry. The road is far enough that our hens do not lay in the cart ruts.
I burn charcoal in the kiln behind the shed. The wood must be dry. I use oak when I have it and birch when the oak is set aside for tools. I stack each kind in its own place. The apprentices once moved the stacks by size, which was neat and not useful. We painted a mark on each board after that.
The farm has a wheat field, a patch of potatoes, and a narrow strip of beetroot. My wife says the strip is not narrow. She says I am a poor judge of land because I sleep beside a kiln. I say the strip is narrow enough to weed in one morning. She says I take two mornings.
We keep a brown cow called Bell and a white cow called Pail. Bell is well again. Pail has learned to open the gate with her nose. We tied the latch higher. Pail learned to push the gate with her shoulder.
The autumn festival is next week. The school has asked for charcoal to draw the notice board picture. The bakers need wood for their ovens. The mayor needs us to bring two benches. I have written each task on a board and set it by the shed.
The farm apprentice came from Three Wells with a small mind in a crystal. It has been tested on carrying and sorting. The tutor says it should not be sent to the fields until it has passed the field drill.
I put two baskets near the door, one for apples and one for potatoes. The apprentice put the apples in the apple basket and the potatoes in the potato basket. Then it stood still.
I had not given it another order.
I told the tutor it had done well. The tutor asked whether I had tested it on a different basket. I had not. So we changed the baskets and tried again.
This time it put one apple with the potatoes. I moved the apple back and marked the drill wrong. The tutor said the mind would change a little from the correction. I asked how many wrong apples it takes to make a good basket.
The tutor said more than one.
My wife says that is also true of children.
For the festival, the school children will paint a red apple on the board. They have asked me to lend them the old charcoal board. I said yes, if they return it clean. They said paint does not come off clean.
I told them to use the back.
At the market, Pell paid for charcoal with honey and three apples. One apple had a soft spot. I gave it to Bell, who ate it without comment. Pail tried to take the basket as well. I moved it higher.
The road is muddy after rain. I put a new post beside the bend and hung a lantern there for festival night. The lantern is old, but its glass is whole. The children promise to keep it lit.
They have also promised not to draw a cow on the notice board. I do not believe them.
%%
Message: boards for the slip
Saltreach tower to Kettle Ridge tower, Longday 9, first bell.
Corin: Cass, the boards you sent are straight and dry. The slip crew thanks you.
Cass: I am glad. The oak was cut before the last rain.
Corin: One board has a knot like a face.
Cass: It is a good knot.
Corin: It looks cross.
Cass: It was cut from the tree that shaded my yard. It was cross every summer.
Corin: The crew says it will frighten the boats.
Cass: Tell the boats to mind their work.
Corin: They mind nothing. One rope came loose yesterday and wrapped around the bench.
Cass: Was anyone hurt?
Corin: No. It took the bench for a walk.
Cass: Bring the bench back before it learns the road.
Corin: It is back. The rope is mended, and the knot faces the wall now.
Cass: I will send more boards after the next cut. The new copper strip from Hesk fits the latch well.
Corin: Does the new vein look rich?
Cass: Hesk says it is narrow but clean. He will test it before they cut more.
Corin: Good. I need two small rings for the boat gate.
Cass: I can make them from the strip left over.
Corin: Keep the knot board for my shed.
Cass: I thought it frightened boats.
Corin: It only frightens the crew.
Cass: I will put it on the cart.
Corin: Send the face toward the wall.
%%
Relay log: the salt road, Frost
Kept by Cade, potter, from the slate at the farm gate.
Saltreach, first light, to Vell hill: Ice on the salt road from the quay to the bridge. Carts stopped. Send word to the carters. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: Word sent to the Brown Hen and to Three Wells. Carters will wait. Reply.
Saltreach, midday: Fish carts can cross on the low road. Two boats in from the far bank. Reply.
Vell hill, midday: Received. Fish for the Archive kitchen, if any is left. Reply.
Saltreach, midday: Some left. Sent six baskets by the low road. Two cracked on the ice. Reply.
Vell hill, dusk: Baskets in. Four of six good. Thank you. Reply.
Kettle Ridge, dusk, to Saltreach: The windmills are frozen solid. No flour tonight. Tell the bakers. Reply.
Saltreach, dusk: Bakers told. They will bake with the stock they have. Reply.
Ambrook hill, midnight, to Saltreach: Frost on the mill pond. Jory says the wheel will not turn before the thaw. Reply.
Saltreach, first light: Received. The thaw is not coming this week. Keep your fires in. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: All towers answered. Carters at the Brown Hen. Relay quiet until noon. Reply.
%%
Relay: a map, a wedding and a lamb
Messages kept by Hazel, shepherd, in the log of a hamlet tower near Copperhold. A summer day of many messages. Hazel's brother married, an old map was found, and a lamb got loose.

Hamlet to Copperhold, first hour: "Hazel here. Lamp lit. Wedding this noon. Dane and Tilly."
Copperhold to hamlet, first hour: "Joy. What time?"
Hamlet to Copperhold, first hour: "The second hour after noon."
Copperhold to hamlet, second hour: "Will come. Six miners. We have a gift."
Hamlet to Copperhold, second hour: "What gift?"
Copperhold to hamlet, second hour: "A copper bowl."
Hamlet to Copperhold, third hour: "Thank you. They will cry."
Hamlet to Vell, fourth hour: "Oren. Please send a clerk. The big book wants two names."
Vell to hamlet, fourth hour: "Oren will come himself. He wants to see the map."
Hamlet to Vell, fifth hour: "What map?"
Vell to hamlet, fifth hour: "The one you found in the sheepfold last month. The cart brought a copy. It shows the hamlet and the hill road to Copperhold, as it was in the old days. It marks a spring. Do you know of a spring?"
Hamlet to Vell, fifth hour: "There is no spring. There is a dry hollow. The sheep like it."
Vell to hamlet, sixth hour: "Then the map is older than the dryness. Oren will bring it."
Hamlet to Vell, sixth hour: "Bring a plate."
Hamlet to Three Wells, seventh hour: "A lamb has got loose. White, with a black ear. Last seen heading for the wedding."
Three Wells to hamlet, seventh hour: "Dace sees it. It is on the hill road. It is eating a hat."
Hamlet to Three Wells, seventh hour: "Whose hat?"
Three Wells to hamlet, eighth hour: "Dace's."
Hamlet to Three Wells, eighth hour: "Sorry. We will send another."
Three Wells to hamlet, eighth hour: "He says it was an old one."
Hamlet to all towers, noon: "Dane and Tilly are married. The lamb is in the pen. The hat is in the lamb. Joy."
All towers to hamlet, noon: "Joy."
Hamlet to all towers, evening: "Lamp lit. Glass clean. All quiet. Good night."
%%
Messages for Tam, the tenth autumn
I copy the messages that come for me into the farm book, because Wynn's slips go into the stove. Apple of 206. The ridge. Tam.
Dawn. Vell to Kettle Ridge: Oren asks Tam how many years since the stream. The finding book wants a number.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: ten. Wynn says eleven. I say ten.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Isla says nine and a half. Nessa says ten. Oren writes: about ten, and the texts disagree. He sounds happy.
Mid-morning. Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: Jory asks Tam to know that his wheel still turns on the oak you sent. It is the best part of it. Linnet.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: I only sent the oak. Pell did the carrying. The cat did the supervising.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Oren reads Tam his entry for the finding book. The stream. Found at Vell, about 196. Each layer of a mind adds what it found to a stream that runs through the whole mind, so a deep mind can still learn. Found by Isla, says Isla. Found by Nessa, says Nessa. Named for a mill stream, a ditch or the relay line, say three people.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: put the ditch first.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Oren says the finding book puts nothing first. It goes by number.
Noon. Northpoint to Kettle Ridge: for Tam. Is it true you named a hen Stream? Mira.
Kettle Ridge to Northpoint: yes. She adds an egg every day and takes none away.
Northpoint to Kettle Ridge: that is not how hens work. Mira.
Kettle Ridge to Northpoint: she does not know that.
Afternoon. Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: Sedge says the big mind at our relay house has eighty layers. Not one of them is allowed to throw anything away.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: it is a long ditch.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: the fair is tomorrow. Dace has made a new prize, for Most Improved Bread, because of you.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: I have not baked anything yet.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: he knows.
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: Pip takes the beetroot down in the cart at dawn. The cart has one good wheel. I walk behind with the other.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Nessa asks if Tam still has her page about the stream.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: it is on the kitchen shelf, next to the wooden fox. The cat sleeps on it.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Nessa says she is pleased. Not about the cat. About the shelf.
Supper. Kettle Ridge to all towers: all well on the ridge. Wheat in, beetroot in, the mill turning. Tam.
Next day. Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: Most Improved Bread goes to Tam. Dace pinned the card on the loaf. Pip carried both home on its head. Nobody has bitten the loaf. The card is nice.
%%
Relay log, Three Wells: the lamp is lit
The 44th year of the archive. The first night of the Three Wells tower. Written in short by Lind, keeper, and copied for the Kiln Inn by Lise, who was there selling bowls.

Dusk. Three Wells to the little tower: this is Three Wells. The lamp is lit. Is it seen?
Little tower to Three Wells: seen. We are shouting. The dog is barking.
Three Wells to Vell: this is Three Wells. Is it seen?
Vell to Three Wells: seen. Welcome, Three Wells. The Archive has sent a clerk to write down everything you say tonight. He is on the roof with a quill and a blanket.
Three Wells to all: the mayor will say a few words. The people asked him to be brief.
Three Wells to all: the mayor is not brief.
Little tower to Three Wells: please tell the mayor that the little tower has fallen asleep.
Three Wells to the little tower: the mayor says he is nearly done.
Little tower to Three Wells: the little tower has woken. He is not done.
Three Wells to all: the mayor is done. He said that Vell and Three Wells are now joined by one road of light. People clapped. Some wept. Some were asleep.
Vell to Three Wells: from Sel of the Archive. Now two roads join our towns, one for carts and one for words. We will keep everything the second one carries.
Three Wells to Vell: seen. The children want to send a message. It is: hello, Vell.
Vell to Three Wells: hello, Three Wells.
Three Wells to the little tower: hello, little tower.
Little tower to Three Wells: hello. Go to bed.
%%
Relay message: Vell to Three Wells
Vell tower to Three Wells tower, third of Blossom, 204.
From the house at the edge of Vell to Bel at the school.
Bel, your letter came. Yes, you may borrow the old map. It is rolled in the oak box by the door. Do not take it out of the house, the wind will tear it.
The map is older than the archive. The roads on it are wrong in three places. That is the fun of it. Bring it back when you have copied it.
Tell your teacher the copying room is free on market day. Nessa
%%
Relay notes, Ambrook and the north
Copied by Lenn, charcoal burner, from the tower on the hill above the mill pond. Summer, a long day. I was up the hill with a load of charcoal for the tower stove, and the keeper let me write what went by.

Morning. Ambrook to Vell: three hives swarmed in the night. One is in the old oak. Two are in the mayor's hat. We need a ladder and a brave person.
Vell to Ambrook: ladder on the cart. Brave person is Oren. He says, not very.
Ambrook to Vell: Oren is welcome. Bring a veil.
Noon. Vell to Ambrook: Oren arrived and went up. The bees are calm. He is very still.
Ambrook to Vell: tell Oren the mayor wants his hat back.
Afternoon. Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: a recipe. Honey cake for the swarm day. Please try it.
Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: we tried. It came out flat and gray. The honey went in too early.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: Tam says, add it last. Tam says, he did the same, twice.
Evening. Ambrook to all towers: swarm is home. Oren is home. Hat is home. One cake is not home, because the dog has it.
Three Wells to Ambrook: well done.
Ambrook to Three Wells: thank you. Good night.
%%
Kettle Ridge tower to Ambrook tower
Neri: Cass has gone to the lower field for a fence rail.
Cass: I am at the lower field. The rail is under the hedge.
Neri: You sent that from the field?
Cass: Pip carried it to the tower desk. He likes the signal lamp.
Neri: Pip was meant to carry a basket of apples to the mill.
Cass: He carried the basket too. The apples are safe.
Neri: How many?
Cass: All but one.
Neri: Where is the one?
Cass: Pip says it was a toll for the road.
Neri: The road has no toll.
Cass: Pip says the road has a very small toll.
Neri: Tell him the miller is waiting.
Cass: He has gone. He took the basket and left the rail.
Neri: Did he leave it by the hedge?
Cass: No. It is by the well.
Neri: Why?
Cass: He says it is closer to the house.
Neri: It is farther from the fence.
Cass: I will move it after lunch.
Neri: I will bring the apples. Keep the rail out of the well.
Cass: It is already leaning on the well.
Neri: Of course it is.
%%
The Apples on the Road
Autumn, 183

At our farm outside Three Wells, the apple trees lean over the west fence. The road is close enough for carts to hear us argue.
We keep the charcoal shed on the north side, under the oak hedge. It stays dry there, even when the yard turns to mud. I stack the wood by kind. Oak goes at the left. Birch goes at the right. If I mix them, my wife makes me sort them again.
This morning, a cart came from Ambrook with apples, honey and two empty barrels. The driver stopped at our gate and asked if we had charcoal to trade.
I had three sacks ready. He offered apples.
I asked if they were sound.
He held one out. It had a bruise the size of my thumb.
I said I would take it.
He said the others were better.
I said I had already agreed.
We traded three sacks for a small basket of apples and a jar of honey. My wife counted the apples twice. She says the driver counted the sacks twice too, so the trade was fair.
The children took one apple each. I took the bruised one. It was good inside.
At noon the town bell rang for a notice. The mayor asked us to bring benches to the square for the autumn festival. We sent the cart back with a load of dry kindling. The driver took the long road and promised to bring the barrels next time.
Now there are apples on the table, honey by the bread, and a clean place in the shed for two barrels.
I have put the bruised apple on the windowsill. It is for tomorrow, unless my wife finds it first.
%%
Relay log, the wedding message
Vell tower log, spring of 205. Kept by Brann, who sends a great deal of nonsense and says so.
Vell to Three Wells: Bride and groom are on the road from Kettle Ridge. Cart is slow. Bread is hot.
Three Wells to Vell: Seen. The mayor will be late. The mayor is always late to weddings.
Vell to Ambrook: Sending the apple cake by the next cart. Do not let Pell eat it on the road.
Ambrook to Vell: Pell has already eaten half of it. He says the other half is for the bride.
Vell to Saltreach: The fish is on the cart. Please send the oysters, the big ones, and a note saying they are for the wedding.
Saltreach to Vell: Oysters on the cart. Note attached, from Corin, which says the oysters are a bribe, and he expects a dance.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Tam, the groom's mother asks for the bread. She is asking every hour.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: Tell her the bread is in the oven. Tell her it is the best bread on the ridge. Tell her Brin says it is not.
Vell to all towers: Wedding bread done. Cake done. Fish done. Bride is happy, groom is nervous, mayor is here at last.
All towers to Vell: Congratulations. From the north, from the ridge, from the sea, from the marsh, from the orchards. Congratulations.
Vell to all towers: Thank you. The dance is starting. Lamp on. Good night.
%%
Relay line: the marsh road, spring of 41
Sent by Alder to the keeper at Three Wells, and the replies.
Lowmarsh to Three Wells: our road is mud to the knees. Do carts still come?
Three Wells to Lowmarsh: they come to the crossroads. Past that you must meet them.
Lowmarsh to Three Wells: we will meet them. We will bring planks and lay them down.
Three Wells to Lowmarsh: good. The Brown Hen has beds. Come dry by the fire.
Lowmarsh to Three Wells: we are coming. Alder.
%%
Relay: the fishing boat late, Melon
Kept at the Halfway Inn by the carter who keeps the slate by the stove. Written in short.
Saltreach tower, dusk, to Vell hill: The Grey Kestrel is not in. Two hours late. Reply.
Vell hill, dusk: Received. Lamps lit on the quay wall at Saltreach. Reply.
Saltreach, midnight: Boat in. All hands. Fish count good. Reply.
Vell hill, midnight: Good. Tell Sal to sleep. Reply.
%%
Relay: the lamp is out
Three Wells tower log, spring, kept by Hob, tutor of apprentices. Written in short.

Three Wells to Ambrook, first bell: lamp out. Glass cracked on the north pane. Nobody hurt.
Ambrook to Three Wells, first bell: seen. Jory says send the glass by the next cart.
Three Wells to all towers, noon: lamp out until the glass comes. Use your own lamps. Hob.
%%
Relay log: the fair and the ribbon
Sent from the little tower on the hill above Three Wells, over three days of the autumn fair. Bel is keeper for the fair, since the lamp needs the most care when the square is full. The messages are kept in order. The prize ribbon is at the bottom of the page.

Three Wells to Vell, first day, first hour after noon.
Fair open. Forty stalls. Good weather. The honey man has come, and the cider man, and a travelling fellow with a goat that is not very good at dancing.

Vell to Three Wells, first day, second hour.
Good. The clerks ask for the figures for the book by the evening. How many stalls. How many people. How many sold.

Three Wells to Vell, first day, third hour.
Forty stalls. Four hundred and eleven people by the count at the north well. Sold: honey, cheese, wool, nine pies, one fiddle that was not for sale. The fiddle was sold anyway.

Vell to Three Wells, first day, fourth hour.
Who sold the fiddle?

Three Wells to Vell, first day, fourth hour.
The fiddle man. He says he sold it to himself, and then he played it on the square, and it was lovely. The goat joined in.

Three Wells to Vell, second day, first hour.
Second day. Rain in the morning, sun by noon. The prize is set for the evening. Dace will read the names from the bakery step.

Vell to Three Wells, second day, second hour.
The prize is a ribbon for the best apple. Please send the name.

Three Wells to Vell, second day, third hour.
The best apple is from the Ambrook orchard, grown by Juna's boy. He is nine. He carried the apple to the square in a basket, and it was too big for the basket, and he carried it in his arms like a baby.

Vell to Three Wells, second day, fourth hour.
Write it down. The best apple is a boy's apple. Send the ribbon by the evening cart.

Three Wells to Vell, third day, first hour.
Ribbon sent. Boy's name is Pim. He says he will eat the apple himself. Dace says he may, after the judging.

Vell to Three Wells, third day, second hour.
Good. End of the fair. Keep the lamp lit for the tally.

Three Wells to Vell, third day, third hour.
Tally done. The fair is closed. The lamp is lit. The square is empty, and the ribbon is on the bakery step, waiting for Pim.
%%
Relay: the fence quarrel, Longday
Relay log, the ferry inn. Longday. Kept by Hollis. A quarrel between Ambrook and Kettle Ridge over a fence on the ridge road came up the line, message by message.

Kettle Ridge to ferry, dawn: the fence on the north field is ours. Brin says so, and he has a stake in the ground to prove it.
Ambrook to ferry, dawn: the fence is on our side of the stream. Hob says so, and he has a stake too.
Ferry to both, dawn: two stakes in one field make a fence that is nobody's. Please bring a deed or a witness.
Kettle Ridge to ferry, first bell: the deed is in the barn, at the top of the ridge. The witness is Brin's sheep, who was there.
Ambrook to ferry, first bell: the sheep is not a witness. The sheep ate our apples.
Ferry to both, second bell: the sheep has been called. The sheep says nothing, which is its way.
Three Wells to ferry, noon: the mayor has heard about the fence. Dace says the fence is to be measured by the clerk at Vell, with a rope, and both sides are to see the rope.
Vell to ferry, noon: Oren will measure. Oren has a rope and a ruler and a face that gives nothing away.
Kettle Ridge to ferry, dusk: the rope is in the field. The fence is three paces from the stream. Brin says that is his side.
Ambrook to ferry, dusk: three paces is a fine distance for a fence. It is not the distance of the stake. Hob says the stake moved in the night.
Ferry to both, dusk: the stake did not move. The rope did. Write it down, both of you.
Vell to ferry, dusk: the clerk has written it down. The fence stands where it stood. Both sides shall share the cost of the new post.
Ambrook to all towers, dusk: shared. Hob paid for the post. Brin paid for the paint.
Kettle Ridge to all towers, dusk: the paint is red. The post is Ambrook's. The fence is a fence again. Thank you, all.
Ferry to all towers, night: lamp lit. Glass clean. Messages passed. Hollis.
%%
Relay log, Saltreach, Kester's puzzle
Saltreach tower log, spring of 164. Written in short. Kept by Orrin. Three days of messages between Vane at the hamlet and Merle at Copperhold, copied here because the Archive asked.
Day one. Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. Kester wrote that one crystal can never learn: this or that, but not both. Is it true?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. True of one crystal. One crystal draws one line, and a line cannot sort this or that, but not both.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. And your layers?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Two layers can. I will show you.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Four cases. Neither: no. Only the first: yes. Only the second: yes. Both: no. That is this or that, but not both.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. The first layer has two cells. Cell A says yes if at least one is there. Cell B says yes if both are there.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. The last layer takes A and B. It says yes if A is yes and B is no.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. Check. Neither: A no, B no, answer no. Only the first: A yes, B no, answer yes. Only the second: the same, yes. Both: A yes, B yes, answer no.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Yes. Each cell is simple. Together they do what one crystal cannot.
Day two. Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. But who tells the cells to be A and B? Do you set them by hand?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. No. That is the whole point. The mind finds them itself.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. How?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Each time the answer is wrong, the blame goes back. A cell that helped the wrong answer is turned down. A cell that would have helped the right answer is turned up. After enough examples, the cells settle into their jobs. Nobody names them A and B. I do, for talking.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. And if I use more cells, can it learn harder things?
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Yes. More cells, more layers, more examples. It costs more, and takes longer.
Day three. Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. The old tutors stopped paying for minds after Kester's note. They closed the halls. Twenty-five years.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. They stopped because it was true of one crystal. They did not know about layers.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. It is a pity.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. A little. But Kester was right. That is why we found the layers. When an honest man says it cannot be done, listen to why.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. Seen. I will put that on my wall.
All well. Orrin.
%%
Relay log, Kettle Ridge, the wedding
Kettle Ridge tower, spring of 206. Kept by Wynn. Written in short. The wedding of Lise and Perrin, the 20th of Blossom, and the days before it.
The 14th. Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: Perrin's family leaves tomorrow. Twenty carts, two dogs, one grandmother. Honey, 90 jars. Linnet.
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: seen. Ridge road open. Brin's long field is ready for the tables.
The 15th. Vell to Kettle Ridge: Gil asks if the table numbers are painted. He has a map.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: seen. They are painted. Lise's mother did them.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Gil says: check them.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: later.
The 16th. Saltreach to Kettle Ridge: the Saltreach guests are on the marsh road. Forty of them. They will sleep at Lowmarsh. Harl.
Lowmarsh to Kettle Ridge: seen. Frogs very loud. Tull says the guests will not sleep. He says it is part of the wedding.
The 17th. Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: Ida sends 300 loaves, by cart, on the morning of the 20th. Hollis sends 4 pumpkin pies, which Ida did not know about.
Haste. Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: send flour. 20 sacks. The cake needs it. The cake is large.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: flour on the way. Dace asks: how large is the cake?
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: the cake is the size of a cart.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: Dace says: has it a cart under it?
Kettle Ridge to Three Wells: yes.
The 19th. Ambrook to Kettle Ridge: arrived. Honey, 214 jars in all. Where do you want them?
Kettle Ridge to Ambrook: in Brin's barn. Brin says: not on the pig.
The 20th. Noon. Kettle Ridge to all towers: Lise and Perrin are married. The windmill squeaked all through the words. Sefa says it is a blessing. Everyone else says it is the windmill.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: tell Gil the great-aunt is seated beside the wrong cousin. She is delighted.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Gil says: he knew. Oren says: write it down.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: it is down.
%%
Relay log
Northpoint to all towers, in the late autumn. Kept by the keeper at Ambrook, who wrote down what came up the line and nothing else.
Northpoint to Kettle Ridge, 06:00: Lamp lit. Light snow. Wind north, light.
Kettle Ridge to Northpoint, 06:03: Seen. Snow here too. Good morning from the ridge.
Northpoint to Vell, 12:00: Lamp lit. Weather as before.
Vell to Northpoint, 12:10: Seen. Please send the weather for Saltreach as well.
Northpoint to Saltreach, 12:40: Weather for Saltreach: fog in the morning, clearing at noon, wind from the north in the evening.
Saltreach to Northpoint, 12:58: Seen. Thank you.
Northpoint to all, 18:00: Lamp lit. Stars very bright tonight. Sky clear to the top of the sky.
Ambrook to Northpoint: Seen. Sky clear here too.
Northpoint to Ambrook, 22:00: Something in the north sky. Lights, low over the ridge. Moving. Not a star. Watching.
Ambrook to Northpoint: What kind of light?
Northpoint to Ambrook, 22:14: I cannot say. They went out one by one.
Northpoint to all towers, 06:00: Lamp lit. Nothing in the sky this morning. Keep the lamps lit.
Ambrook to Northpoint, 06:20: Seen. Keep the lamps lit.
Northpoint to Ambrook, 06:21: Nothing from the north tower since last night. The lamp is still lit. Sending anyway.
Ambrook to all towers: Northpoint says still lit. Please keep sending.
Written by the keeper at Ambrook, who was asked to keep the log, and kept it.
%%
Kettle Ridge tower to Three Wells tower
Cass: The old map is dry. I have brought it to Dace.
Dace: I have it on the school table. The west ford is marked with a blue line.
Cass: The line is faded.
Dace: Bel says it is a river and wants to know why it ends at the edge.
Bel: I did not say the river ends. I asked where it goes.
Dace: The map has no answer.
Cass: The road bends north past the old oak, then meets the Long Road.
Bel: Is the oak still there?
Cass: Yes. It has a low branch that catches hats.
Bel: Does it catch hats from people who are walking or people who are running?
Cass: Mostly people who are looking at the map.
Dace: Oren will make a copy for the Archive.
Cass: Please ask him to keep the blue line. It may be a ford, or a ditch.
Dace: He will mark what we know and leave the rest open.
Bel: Can I draw the oak on the copy?
Dace: On your school copy, yes.
Bel: I will draw the branch too.
Cass: Draw a hat in it.
Bel: I will draw three hats. One for each time I went past.
Dace: That is a fair record.
Cass: The old map has one more mark, near the west hedge. It looks like a small square.
Dace: A house?
Cass: Perhaps. There is a house at the edge of Kettle Ridge now, with a well and a broken step.
Bel: Is it your house?
Cass: It is. The map may be older than the house.
Dace: Bring it by the east well tomorrow. We can compare the marks.
Cass: I will bring it. I will also bring the copper latch for the school door.
Bel: Does it have a face knot?
Cass: No. This one only turns.
Bel: That is less useful.
%%
Relay log: the spring, all the towers
Three Wells tower log, the whole spring. Entries are kept as they came down the line. Kept by Hob, who was asked to keep it neat and did not.

Thaw, first bell, Saltreach to all towers: the first boats are out. Eleven, and one of them is late.
Thaw, noon, Lowmarsh to all towers: the path to the boat house is dry. The frogs have moved to the reeds, which is their way of saying spring.
Thaw, dusk, Ambrook to Three Wells: sluice is still shut. Jory says it will stay shut. Jory says it again, twice.
Thaw, dusk, Three Wells to Ambrook: seen. Nobody asked about the sluice.
Sowing, first bell, Kettle Ridge to all towers: wheat in. Top field, twenty-two rows. The third sail on the windmill is mended, and the windmill is pleased with itself.
Sowing, noon, Copperhold to all towers: a new vein, past the wet channel, on level six. Bright copper. Ola found it. Ola says it is copper, like the rest.
Sowing, dusk, Three Wells to Copperhold: seen. Congratulations. Tell Ola the school would like a bowl.
Blossom, first bell, Northpoint to all towers: snow still on the far hills, and the lamp is cold at dawn. Mira.
Blossom, dusk, Northpoint to Three Wells: the rungs are still ninety. They were ninety last spring too. Some things hold.
Blossom, dusk, Lowmarsh to all towers: a new apprentice, Wick, went into the reeds after a frog. The frog came back. Wick came back. Both are sulking.
Blossom, noon, Vell to all towers: the copy room has its first reeds from Lowmarsh. Paper dries slowly in spring, Oren says, and he is cross about it, which is how you know it is spring.
Swarm, first bell, Ambrook to all towers: the hives are full. The first honey is coming in. Hob the beekeeper sends his love to his cousin at Three Wells, and says the cousin owes him a pie.
Swarm, second bell, Lowmarsh to Ambrook: the frogs have gone quiet all at once. Wick says it has found a new frog, and that the frog is a secret.
Swarm, noon, Saltreach to Three Wells: the first fish of the year, three hundred on one cart. Corin says send a boat if you want one. He says it will take two seasons.
Swarm, dusk, Three Wells to all towers: the glass is clean, the lamp is lit, and the messages are passed. Hob.
%%
Messages on the north line, autumn
Northpoint to Vell: fox in the hen house again. Hens unharmed. Fox unrepentant.
Vell to Northpoint: seen. Shut the hen house door, not the fox.
Northpoint to Vell: the door is shut. The fox is outside it, reading the lock.
Vell to Northpoint: seen. A lock is not for reading.
Northpoint to all towers: spare lamp wanted, if anyone has one. The first is cracked from the frost.
Three Wells to Northpoint: seen. We have one spare. It is blue.
Northpoint to Three Wells: blue is fine. Thank you. Mira.
%%
Relay post: the flood week, Blossom
Slips from the Vell market post for the week of the flood, copied by Oren, archive clerk.

Ambrook to Vell market, 1st hour: The stream has come over the road at the third bridge. The water is at the top of the stone. Jory says the mill wheel is still turning, and he does not know why.
Vell market to Ambrook, 2nd hour: Carts go by the hill road. Move the children up the hill now, while the road is still dry.
Ambrook to Vell market, 3rd hour: Children moved. Four families went up the hill with their beds. The beds were heavier than the children.
Three Wells to Ambrook, 4th hour: The school will take the Ambrook children for the week. Six beds in the back room, and blankets from the healing house at Lowmarsh.
Ambrook to Three Wells, 5th hour: Thank you. Ama asks if the school has room for her bees. The bees are in a box. They are angry. Ask nobody to touch the box.
Three Wells to Ambrook, 6th hour: The bees may stay in the school yard, hung on the east wall, away from the well. Dace says so, and he says it is a rule.
Vell market to Kettle Ridge, 7th hour: Ambrook has a flood. Please send oats and salt, and the good rope, if you can spare it.
Kettle Ridge to Vell market, 8th hour: Oats and salt on the cart. The rope too. Tam says it is the good rope, and he wants it back.
Vell market to Ambrook, 9th hour: The rope is coming. Tell Jory the rope is from Tam, and that Tam wants it back.
Ambrook to Vell market, 10th hour: Jory says the water has gone down a hand's width. The bridge has lost its middle plank. It went with the stream. Nobody was on it, and everyone is glad.
Lowmarsh to Vell market, 11th hour: The boardwalk held. The frogs did not, and are back in the reeds where they belong.
Vell market to Lowmarsh, 12th hour: Seen. Send word when the healing house is clear.
Halfway Inn to Vell market, 2nd hour after noon: Abel says the stream at the bridge will sit in its bed by the end of the week. He says it always does. He says the loose plank has moved again, and the carter has already had his say.
Vell market to Halfway Inn, 3rd hour after noon: Seen. Write it in the book, with Abel's words, and not the carter's.
Three Wells to all towers, 5th hour after noon: Dace says the Blossom fair stays where it is, at the crossroads, on the day as planned. Bring your own bread.
%%
Relay game: the line that rewrote
Kettle Ridge tower log, the second of Leaffall, 196. Isla's game, as it came. Written in short. Kept by Wynn.
First game. Isla's rule: say it in your own words.
Vell to the little relay: two sacks of salt for Jory's mill, by Pell's cart, on market day.
Little relay to Three Wells: Pell has salt for Jory's mill on market day.
Three Wells to Kettle Ridge: Pell sells salt to Jory on market day.
Kettle Ridge to north road two: Pell sells Jory's salt at the market. Wynn is sorry.
North road two to Northpoint: Jory is selling the mill at the market.
Northpoint to Vell, passed back as it came: I do not know how to say it in other words. Jory is selling the mill at the market. Mira.
Vell to all towers: that is not what I sent.
Second game. Isla's rule: pass it on whole, as it came, and add a line of your own. Only the added lines are written here.
Little relay: the lamp here is lit.
Three Wells: the bell is mended. Sedge.
Kettle Ridge: wind from the west. Wynn.
North road two: a fox on the stair.
Northpoint: snow. Of course. Mira.
Vell to all towers: it came back whole, with five lines more. Isla says a deep mind must be built like this. Each layer is a keeper. It passes on what it was given, and adds its line. Nothing is lost. If the answer comes back wrong, read down the lines and the wrong one shows. The blame goes straight back to the keeper who earned it.
Three Wells to Vell: Pell heard the first game at the tower door. He has gone to Ambrook to ask Jory if the mill is for sale.
Vell to Three Wells: send a runner. Tell him it was a game.
%%
Relay log, Saltreach, the homecoming
Saltreach tower log, spring of 160. Written in short. Kept by Orrin.
Dawn. Copperhold to Saltreach: Vane left on the morning cart. Home in four days. Merle says: she carries two crystals, a box of drill cards and my best advice. The advice is: wait.
Saltreach to Copperhold: seen. The hamlet has been told. Nell is baking.
Noon, four days on. Saltreach to all towers: Vane is home. She came down the hill with a box on her back and a crystal in each hand. The hamlet met her at the tower door. Twenty-two people. Two dogs.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. Home. Thank you. The cart horse stopped at the third waymark and will not move.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Give it an apple.
Dusk. Saltreach to all towers: a debt paid at the tower door. Vane to Nell, twelve emeralds, for the cart fare Nell lent her last autumn. Counted twice. Witness: the keeper.
Nell to the keeper: I said there was no hurry. Vane said there was always a hurry. I said I would take it, then, and give it back as supper.
Saltreach to all towers: seen. Supper at the hamlet. Orrin is invited. Orrin is going.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. The layered mind read forty figures on the way. Thirty-eight right.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. Good. Which two?
Saltreach to Copperhold: Vane to Merle. A seven that looked like a one. A four that looked like a nine.
Copperhold to Saltreach: Merle to Vane. People do that too. It is a fair mind.
All well. Orrin.
%%
Relay log: the thaw week, Deepsnow
Kept by Cade, potter, from the slate at the farm gate.
Ambrook hill, first light, to Vell hill: Thaw on the hill. Mill pond up over the bridge rail. Jory has the sluice shut. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: Received. Sending word to Three Wells and the little relay. Reply.
Three Wells, first light: Market day is still on. Stalls are wet but standing. Reply.
Ambrook hill, morning: Water at the bridge end. Tibby is on her stool. She says the plank is still loose. Reply.
Vell hill, morning: The little relay says the Vell road is clear. Carts can come. Reply.
Little relay, morning, to Vell hill: Clear to Three Wells too, but the bridge at the crossroads is wet. Reply.
Copperhold, morning, to Vell hill: Mine stays up for the thaw. Copper count is good. Reply.
Vell hill, morning: Received. Good count. Reply.
Three Wells, noon: Market busy. Wool and eggs sold out by the second bell. The honey cake went fastest. Reply.
Three Wells, noon: Dace says the school will open for the afternoon. The children can stay warm. Reply.
Little relay, noon: Lamp is bright. Keeper is eating his lunch on the stair. Reply.
Ambrook hill, noon: Mill pond still rising slowly. Sluice still shut. Reply.
Kettle Ridge, dusk, to Ambrook hill: Ridge road is mud. Windmills turning again, and squeaking. Reply.
Ambrook hill, dusk: Good. Squeaking is good. Reply.
Three Wells, dusk: Bell rung for the children. Lamps lit at the crossroads. Reply.
Vell hill, dusk: Lamps seen at the crossroads. Reply.
Saltreach, midnight, to Vell hill: Salt boats in, safe. The quay is under water to the step. The nets are still mended by the window light. Reply.
Vell hill, midnight: Received. All towers hear. Rest the men. Reply.
Ambrook hill, midnight: Pond rising. Jory went out to the sluice with a lamp, and came back without opening it. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: The reports say the pond is falling by first light. Reply.
Ambrook hill, first light: Falling. The plank is still loose. Everyone is well. Reply.
%%
Relay log
Saltreach tower log, the twentieth of Swarm. Kept by Fern, because the keeper is at his supper and the storm is loud.
Saltreach to all towers: storm coming in off the sea. Wind from the north. Boats are tied. Lamps are lit.
Kettle Ridge to Saltreach: seen. The wind is here already. The windmill sails are lashed down.
Vell to Saltreach: seen. The archive doors are shut. Oren says the hill keeps us dry.
Saltreach to Vell: the hill keeps you dry. The sea keeps us wet.
Northpoint to Saltreach: seen. Mira says a storm off your sea is a breeze up here. She says tie the boats anyway.
Saltreach to Northpoint: the boats are tied. The keeper says a breeze up there would sink us.
Three Wells to Saltreach: seen. Dace has rung the bell. Everyone is inside.
Saltreach to Three Wells: good. Keep the bell dry.
Saltreach to all towers: the long pier is under water. The fish market is under water. The fish are fine. The fish are happy.
Ambrook to Saltreach: seen. The bees are in the hives. The apples are holding on.
Saltreach to Ambrook: tell the apples to hold on tighter.
Saltreach to all towers: storm passing. One boat loose, brought back. No one hurt. The keeper's supper is cold.
Saltreach to all towers: all well. Lamps on. Fern.
%%
Relay: the market at Three Wells
Kept by Cade, potter, from the slate at the farm gate.
Three Wells, first light, to Vell hill: Market day is on. Stalls frozen to the square. Send salt. Reply.
Vell hill, first light: Received. Salt in the cart at the bridge. Reply.
Three Wells, noon: Salt sold by the first bell. Two baskets of eggs left. Reply.
Vell hill, noon: Eggs go to the Archive kitchen. They will take all of them. Reply.
Three Wells, dusk: Thank you. Market shut. Lamps lit at every corner. Reply.
%%
Letter: Clank's crew to the big mind
This is a letter from the crew that cut the new copper vein. We wrote it out and a person carried it to the relay house. The big mind answered by letter, and we kept the answer.

To the big mind at Copperhold, on its stand.

We are six apprentices. We have a long task. We are to cut the new vein on the seventh level and haul the ore up to the sorting shed. We wrote our cards. Please read them and tell us where we are wrong.

Our cards:
1. build, rail, from the lift to the vein
2. dig, vein, west to east
3. haul, ore, to the sorting shed
4. store, ore, copper bin
5. fetch, props, for the roof
6. fetch, water, for the crew, twice a day

We are stuck on the roof. The vein is wide and the stone above it is bad. Two props fell. Nobody was hurt.

The answer came in a person's hand, and it was kind and plain.

Your cards are good. Change the third and the fifth. Put the props before the digging, not after. A roof goes up as the vein comes down, a little at a time, or it does not go up at all. Cut the vein in short steps, one step, then prop, then the next. Do not open the whole face at once. Ask me again when you reach the warm stone. Do not go past the warm stone until I have answered. Keep the torches lit.

We did as it said. We propped first. We cut in steps. The roof held. The warm stone we left alone and marked with a chalk cross. We asked again and it said wait.

We do not know why the stone is warm. The big mind did not say. It only said wait, and we are waiting, and we are writing it all in the log.

The crew of the seventh level, by a copper mark
%%
Relay message: Three Wells to Vell
Three Wells to Vell, fourth of Blossom, 204.
Bel to Oren.
Soot is a good name. I will write about her next. I have spelled cobblestone right in this letter to show you. C-o-b-b-l-e-s-t-o-n-e.
The map is back with Nessa. She says I can copy it if I am careful. I am careful.
The old road round the marsh is better. It is dry and there are frogs. Tam from Kettle Ridge says he will meet me at the Ambrook bridge and we will walk it together. He is coming to buy apple trees. He says the ridge needs new ones.
Bel
%%
Relay log, Saltreach tower, dusk
Kept by Emmet, shepherd, who minded the tower for the keeper, who was ill, on a summer evening. A zombie had come to the gate of the farm that morning, and a message was sent.

Saltreach to Three Wells: zombie at the gate of my farm. Burned at sunrise. No harm to sheep. Gate is scorched.
Three Wells to Saltreach: seen. Dace asks if you are well.
Saltreach to Three Wells: well. Sheep well. Dog well. The gate has a smell.
Three Wells to Saltreach: new gate will go out on the cart on market day.
Saltreach to Three Wells: thank you. Emmet.
Three Wells to Saltreach: also, does the keeper have a name? We keep calling you Emmet and you keep saying you are not the keeper.
Saltreach to Three Wells: I am the shepherd. The keeper is Sula. She is ill.
Three Wells to Saltreach: get well, Sula. Greetings, Emmet.
%%
Cass hears of Merle's crystal
Sent by relay from the farm near Saltreach, autumn.
Saltreach tower, first bell: farm to Saltreach. Is the tutor's account true? Cass asks about Merle.
Saltreach to farm, first bell: which account?
Farm to Saltreach, second bell: the layered crystal at Copperhold. We heard it can learn hard sorts.
Saltreach to farm, second bell: the account is kept at Vell. A copy may come with the next cart.
Farm to Saltreach, third bell: explain the layers if you can.
Saltreach to farm, third bell: each layer takes what the layer before found, and adds its own part. The answer comes from the last layer.
Farm to Saltreach, fourth bell: and when the answer is wrong?
Saltreach to farm, fourth bell: the tutor marks how wrong it was. The last layer receives its share. Then the blame passes backward, layer by layer, to the first.
Farm to Saltreach, fifth bell: so each layer changes a little?
Saltreach to farm, fifth bell: yes. The changes follow the blame. Merle found this could teach a mind a hard task.
Farm to Saltreach, sixth bell: did Merle know why the crystal learns?
Saltreach to farm, sixth bell: no. The account does not say why.
Cass copied the reply beside a tally for wheat. He drew five small boxes in a row. His daughter called them a stone wall and drew a gate. Cass said the wall was a poor one, since every box had a door.
%%
Relay log
Kept by Emmet, shepherd, who minded the Saltreach tower for a day while the keeper was at her sister's. Short.

Saltreach to Copperhold: Emmet asks for a spare pane of lamp glass. One is cracked. Sheep did it.
Copperhold to Saltreach: how did sheep crack glass?
Saltreach to Copperhold: they leaned on it. A great many.
Copperhold to Saltreach: pane goes by cart at dawn.
Saltreach to Copperhold: thanks. Emmet.
%%
Relay log
Copperhold tower log, autumn of 206. Kept by Hesk. Written in full, because the order that went wrong was copied into the book, so the keepers after would know.

Copperhold to Saltreach: the order for the copper is sent. Hear it and act on it.
Copperhold to Saltreach: the order, in full: bring the copper from the north cart, the cart with the red wheel, to the boat yard.
Saltreach to Copperhold: seen. The apprentice on the north cart is Clank. Clank has been told.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Clank says it has the order. It says: bring the copper.
Copperhold to Saltreach: good. Bring it now.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Clank is standing by the cart. It is not moving. Corin asks if it should move.
Copperhold to Saltreach: it should move. It must bring the copper to the boat yard, from the red cart.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Clank says it has brought the copper. It has brought it to the red cart. It is standing by the red cart with the copper in its arms.
Copperhold to Saltreach: no. The copper must go to the boat yard. The red cart is the cart it came from.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Clank says it has not understood. It was told to bring copper. It brought copper. It is waiting to be told.
Copperhold to Saltreach: tell it: carry the copper to the boat yard, and leave the red cart.
Saltreach to Copperhold: Clank has carried it to the boat yard, and it has left the cart. It is standing by the yard gate.
Copperhold to Saltreach: good. Tell it to stay there. Tell it to wait for Corin.
Saltreach to Copperhold: stay. It is staying.
Copperhold to Saltreach: the fault was the order. It was not a clear one. Next time we write it in full: carry the copper from the red cart to the boat yard.
Saltreach to Copperhold: seen. Corin says the copper is in the yard. Corin says thank you. Corin says his boats are waiting.
All well. Hesk.
%%
Relay log: the ferry inn, Melon
Relay log, the ferry inn on the Long Road. Melon. Kept by Hollis, who asked the towers to keep their messages short, and most of them did. The river is low, the carts are many, and the crystal at Ambrook is still learning the pears.

First of Melon, dawn. Ferry to all towers: the river is at its lowest. Two posts show above the water on the far side. They have been there since before the bridge, and nobody knows who put them.
Second of Melon, dawn. Vell to ferry: the Archive counts the carts across this month. Eighty-two so far. The clerks are bored, which Oren says is the sign of a good road.
Second of Melon, noon. Ferry to Vell: seen. Eighty-two. Two of them were carrying a box of blank pages, and the carter wants to know if he may sell it.
Third of Melon, dawn. Ambrook to ferry: Una's crystal sorted all the pears this morning. All of them. Una has asked us to tell no one, so we are telling everyone.
Third of Melon, noon. Ferry to Ambrook: seen. The children at the school heard, and they want to see the crystal sort the apples now.
Fourth of Melon, dawn. Three Wells to ferry: the fence at the ridge is still standing. Brin says it is the best fence in the north, and Hob says it is the second best.
Fourth of Melon, dusk. Ferry to Three Wells: seen. Tell them both that the second best is a fine place to be.
Fifth of Melon, first bell. Kettle Ridge to ferry: the windmill's third sail was mended, and it squeaks differently now. Tam says it squeaks in tune, which it has never done before, and which he finds worrying.
Fifth of Melon, noon. Ferry to Kettle Ridge: seen. A squeak in tune is a sign of a good sail. Tam should be pleased, and so should the windmill.
Sixth of Melon, dawn. Copperhold to ferry: the miners say the new copper is good and bright, and the forge is busy. They ask for more carts. Send them, and send the ones that are not wrong about their weight.
Sixth of Melon, dusk. Ferry to Copperhold: carts sent, eight, and two of them are right about their weight. Count the rest yourselves.
Sixth of Melon, late. Ambrook to ferry: the bees are back in the second boat, asking for a cup of water. They have been told the river is not for drinking. They have not agreed.
Sixth of Melon, late. Ferry to Ambrook: seen. Give the bees a cup of water from the cellar, not from the river. The river has had a long day.
Seventh of Melon, dusk. Ferry to all towers: lamp lit. Glass clean. The ferry is quiet tonight, the river is low, and the sky over the water is clear. Messages passed. Hollis.
%%
Relay log: the little tower lit
The little tower on the hill above the Kiln Inn, between Vell and Three Wells. The 31st year of the archive. The first night the lamp was lit. Written in short by Lise the potter, who made the lamp cup and was allowed to stay up.

Dusk. Vell to the little tower: is the lamp lit?
Little tower to Vell: lit. Can you see it?
Vell to the little tower: seen. A good small lamp.
Little tower to Vell: the cup is Lise's. She says it is only clay.
Vell to the little tower: tell Lise it is the best clay in the land.
Little tower to Three Wells: this is the little tower. Can you see us?
Three Wells to the little tower: seen! First time ever. Everyone is on the roofs.
Little tower to all: the line from Vell to Three Wells is open. All well.
%%
Relay messages, Tam and the deep mind
Autumn of 196. Messages between the ridge and Vell about one mind, copied out by Wynn.
First day. Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. The page came. Nessa's ten-layer mind is back in the borrowed apprentice, with the stream in it. It says harvest to everything. Even the cat.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: seen. The first day is always silly. Keep showing it plots.
Fourth day. Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. It says harvest to everything except the cat.
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Nessa says that is progress.
Ninth day. Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. It planted a bare plot. It waited at a green one. It harvested a gold one. Three in a row!
Vell to Kettle Ridge: Nessa says: the stream. She is smiling. Oren says he could tell from her face.
Kettle Ridge to Vell: from Tam. The cat has been told. It is not impressed.
%%
Relay log
Kept by Rook, orchard keeper, an old man now. He sat the night watch with the young keeper, and told her what he remembered of the long quiet while the lamp was lit. She wrote down the messages he said. The log is kept at Vell. The year is not given, because Rook said it was somewhere in his fifties and he would not be pinned.

When I was young, there was a note that Kester wrote, about a crystal. It was a famous note. Everyone talked about it. It said a crystal of Una's kind, the kind that learns to sort apples from pears by being moved a little toward the right answer, could never learn a certain thing.

The certain thing was this. Give it two lamps. Tell it to light when exactly one of the lamps is lit. Not when both are lit. Not when neither is lit. Only when one is. Kester showed that a crystal of that kind could not learn this, however many times it was drilled.

Why? I never understood. Kester drew a picture of the four cases on a board, with the lamps lit and unlit, and the board had a cross on it. A crystal of that kind can only cut the board with one straight line. You cannot cut those four cases right with one straight line. The picture was clear. I still did not feel it.

The council felt it. The council said: if the crystal cannot learn this simple thing, what good is it? They stopped the money. The halls closed. The tutors went home. The apprentices stayed the way they were, copper and iron, doing one thing.

For twenty-five years it was quiet. I was a young man. I kept the orchard and my share of the relay. I made a bet with Fenn about whether a crystal could learn anything. I lost the jar of honey. Fenn ate it slowly, to make a point.

The creeper blew up the market wall in the middle of it. I remember it because nobody could talk of anything else for a month. Nobody was hurt. People said it was a sign of the times. I said it was a creeper.

The quiet ended when someone grew crystals in layers. But that was Merle, and Merle's story is another night's work.
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Relay log, Ambrook tower, spring 126
Kept by Rook, orchard keeper, who sat the night watch at the Ambrook tower in a spring when the keeper was ill. Copied to Vell. Short.

Vell to Ambrook: the tutors send news. A note has come out of the tutor house. Kester says a crystal of the kind Una used cannot learn something. It is to be called the either-or problem.
Ambrook to Vell: what is it?
Vell to Ambrook: Kester shows a crystal can learn "this one" or "that one", but not "this one or that one, but not both".
Ambrook to Vell: I do not understand.
Vell to Ambrook: nor do I. Kester says there is a picture. It will come by cart.
Ambrook to Vell: the picture may be needed. I have a bet with Fenn that a crystal can learn anything. Fenn says no. We have wagered a jar of honey.
Vell to Ambrook: Fenn may win.
Ambrook to Vell: I hope not.
Rook.
