Wren's book: a day at Reedend
Summer of 206. All sums in emeralds. Moss carries the bag.

Teague, a reed cut across the palm. Salve and a clean cloth. Paid 1.
Old Dunn, sore feet. Two pairs of wool socks, as I tell everyone. Paid 1.
The Marl twins, a cough, a lie about the cough, and a sore stomach. A spoon of honey each. Paid nothing. They gave me a frog.
Earned: 2. Frogs: 1. The frog has gone back to the water, where it has a job.
%%
Letter: Pell to Ambrook, from the road
Dear all at home,
I am at Lowmarsh for the spring market, buying reed honey and selling salt. The honey is good this year. The fish is not.
I heard a thing on the road you will not like. The relay above the marsh blinked wrong last night. Not dark. Wrong. The keeper says it was the fog. I say the fog does not blink.
Another man says the relays in the north have gone quiet one by one since the snows. He said it like it was weather. I asked him what he meant and he said what I said.
There is talk of big ships at Saltreach, three times the length of a boat, and families paying to go over the water. I do not know what is across the water. Nobody does. That is the trouble.
I will be home with the honey by the middle of Sowing. Keep the grey branch on the oldest tree. Do not cut it.
Pell
%%
Bel's Book of Small Sales, Longday 207
Our house is the last one on the east road out of Three Wells. It has a bench by the door, a small garden behind it, and a roof that leaks only when rain comes sideways. Mother sells bread, honey, fruit, and vegetables from the front room. The price board is on the wall. Father says I write the prices too large. Mother says a traveler can read them from the road, so they are right.
First day. Two loaves, 2 emeralds. A jar of honey, 2 emeralds. Bought flour, 2 emeralds. The flour seller left his cart in front of our door. Father asked him to move it. He moved it one step.
Second day. Apples, 5 emeralds. Carrots, 3 emeralds. Bought a new clay bowl, 1 emerald. I tried to put the apples in the bowl. Mother said bowls are not baskets.
Third day. Beetroot, 4 emeralds. Bread, 3 emeralds. Bought coal, 2 emeralds. The coal sack left black dust on my sleeve. Mother washed it. My sleeve is now a little shorter.
Fourth day. No sales before the bell. After the bell, a teacher bought honey and bread for 4 emeralds. Bought wool, 3 emeralds. Father says the wool will patch the bench cushion. I say the cushion needs a whole new bench.
Fifth day. Potatoes, 3 emeralds. Apples, 4 emeralds. Bought carrots for the soup, 1 emerald. Mother says the soup carrots do not count as shop stock.
Sixth day. Honey, 3 emeralds. Bread, 2 emeralds. A traveler paid with 4 emeralds for 3. I gave the change back. He said I had a quick hand. I said the emerald was still in his hand.
Seventh day. No sales. I counted the box: 19 emeralds. Mother counted 19. Father counted 18 because he was holding one.
%%
Ferris, ledger at the Ambrook market
Autumn. Emeralds. Stall by the mill pond, the second row.
Leaffall, 1st. Honey, 6 jars, at 2 each. 12. Apples, 4 sacks, at 2. 8. Bought a sack of salt from the Saltreach cart, 3.
Leaffall, 2nd. Fog on the pond until noon. No buyers. Sold 1 jar to the miller for his cough, 2. He pays in flour, which I took.
Leaffall, 4th. Wool from the Three Wells cart, 12 bundles, 12 emeralds. Sold 9 bundles on the day. Kept 3 for the winter.
Leaffall, 5th. Storm in the night. The wind came from the north, flat and fast. The stall held. The pond did not. Lost 1 sack of apples, 2 jars of honey and my good lantern to the reeds.
Leaffall, 6th. Bought a new lantern, 4. The old one is in the reeds. I will ask the boys to look. They will want a jar of honey for their trouble. They shall have it.
Leaffall, 9th. Dark carts from the north road did not come in. Nobody knows why. The carter from Lowmarsh said the road was wet. The carter from Copperhold said nothing at all.
Leaffall, 11th. Buyers thin. Sold 2 jars of honey, 4. Paid the stall rent to the mill, 1.
%%
Notice: market accounts
Abel the glassblower kept the market accounts this spring. All in emeralds.
Market day, the fourth of Sowing. Fine weather, frogs loud.
Reeds for thatch: 12 bundles sold, 1 each.
Eels: 30 sold, 2 for 1. Baskets: 4, mended, 1 each.
Glass bottles, small: 20 sold, 3 for 1. Abel says the marsh water makes them shine.
Glass panes: 10 sold, 2 each. Wren bought six for her healing house.
Honey: 8 pots, 2 each. Brought up from Ambrook by cart.
Mud boots, tall: 6 pairs, 3 each. Everyone laughed. Everyone bought.
Day total: 71 emeralds. Abel bought a new apron: 2.
%%
Wren's notes on the sick, spring
I keep a page for each person who comes to the healing house, and I write what I gave them and how they did.
The cough comes grey. It starts with a tiredness and a tickle, then the chest fills, and the breath goes short. The old and the thin do worst.
I have tried: reed syrup, honey and hot water, steam with mint, the root from Three Wells, and sitting by the fire with the shutters closed.
Some get better in a week. Some get better in a month. Some do not get better, and I write their names and the day, and I keep the page.
Moss is good with the children. He tells them the frogs are louder than they are, and they laugh, and they breathe easier for it.
People ask me what causes it. I say I do not know. I say the water is clean and I drink it. I say wash your hands and keep the smoke out of the house. I say come early.
A woman told me the ships brought it. A miner told me the deep stone brought it, and that the stone is warm now and hums at night. A fisherman told me the frogs went quiet before it came. All three are sure. None of them can be right, and I cannot tell which is.
The boat that was late home came in at dark. The man would not say what he saw. He sat by my fire and drank the soup and said only that the water was cold and the fog was grey and he was glad to be home. I wrote that down too.
The jars on the high shelf are running low. I will send to Three Wells for root and to Ambrook for honey. In spring the honey is best.
I am tired. Moss says I should sleep more. I say the sick do not sleep more, so why should I.
Wren
%%
Letter: Dell to her sister at Lowmarsh
Dear Sanna,
The road is open again and the cart came back down with a load of stone for the tower. They are building it, Sanna. The northmost tower. Not this year but soon. The stone comes up slow and the men stop here for soup and for beds, and I keep a nail on the shelf to remember the first cart that ever cracked a wheel in my yard.
I mended nine nets this month and let two rooms and the yard. I have 27 emeralds in the box, which is more than the box has ever held. I do not know what to spend it on. Boots, I think.
The men talk about the tower the way you talk about the marsh. They say it will carry a message from here to Vell in a night. I said a night is fast. They said wait and see.
Tell mother the snow is deep but the fire is good. Tell father I have not forgotten the nets.
Your sister, Dell
%%
Ledger: a long winter, Leaffall to Frost
Ledger of Rye, the farm by the stream bridge. All sums in emeralds. The old folk say this winter will be long. I have counted the candles to see whether they agree.
Leaffall, day 1. Tolls: 11. The mine road is thick with leaves. Carts fewer each day.
Leaffall, day 4. Candles: 40, tallow, from the chandler at Three Wells. Paid 8. He said they would last a long winter. He said it kindly, as though he were sorry.
Leaffall, day 9. Salt: 2 sacks from the Saltreach cart. Paid 6. The salt came in the rain and stayed dry, which the carter thought a joke.
Leaffall, day 12. Tolls: 4. The bridge is quiet. Rye does not mind a quiet bridge. Rye minds a quiet bridge in Leaffall.
Leaffall, day 15. Flour: 6 sacks from Ambrook. Jory's sacks, clean, and every one full. Paid 12. He added a sack of the good grain for nothing, and would not hear a word about it.
Leaffall, day 20. Hay for the red cow, 4 bales, 4. The cow has been moved into the barn with the grey horse. They are not friends, and they are not enemies. They share.
Frost, day 1. First snow on the bridge rail. Lamp oil: 6 jars, paid 6, at a higher price than in Reaping. Everything is cheaper in Reaping.
Frost, day 6. The mine road is closed for the snow. No carts, no tolls. The stream runs loud under the ice, and the gate boy's mother has sent him back to me with a loaf.
Frost, day 10. Candles: 9 left of 40. Salt: one sack. Flour: four sacks. Hay: the barn is full. Total spent since Leaffall: 71. Total earned since Leaffall: 19. The stream says nothing about it.
Frost, day 14. The bridge has not been crossed in four days. I walk out to the middle and stand on the planks and listen to the water under the ice. It is slow. It is always slow in Frost.
%%
Ledger: bread for the coast road
Nell Pike, outside Vell. Melon. The carts go by our gate from dawn to dusk, all one way. This is what we sold them.
The 2nd. Bread, 40 loaves, to the first carts. Got 7. They paid before I asked.
The 3rd. Bread, 60 loaves. Eggs, 80. Got 17. A woman with a cat in a basket asked if she could leave a letter with us for her sister. I said yes. It is in the dresser drawer. On the front, in her hand: To be kept.
The 5th. Cheese, 10 rounds. Got 20. A man gave me three emeralds more than I asked. I ran after his cart. He said to keep them, he would not need them where he was going. I asked where. He said across the water, and waved. I did not know the water had an across.
The 7th. The road was empty all day. At dusk four carts came in a line and I sold out.
Week: got 44. Spent 8. Bread for the road is a good trade. I would give it up.
%%
Ledger: the whole of Apple, day by day
Ledger of Rye, the farm by the stream bridge, below Copperhold. Apple. Sums in emeralds. Kept in ink, as my father taught me.
Apple, day 1. Tolls: 18. Carts over: 16. Paid the gate boy 1.
Apple, day 2. Tolls: 22. New bucket for the bridge drain, 2. The old one had a frog-shaped hole.
Apple, day 3. Tolls: 9. Rain. Sand on the slick planks, 1.
Apple, day 4. Tolls: 25. A miner paid in three apples. Accepted. The best apples since Reaping.
Apple, day 5. Tolls: 14. Hesk's cook paid 2 for a pie.
Apple, day 6. Tolls: 19. Hay: 40 bales from the top field, 40. The red cow has a view on that.
Apple, day 7. Tolls: 0. A cart of copper in the stream. Fished out by the men, paid 6.
Apple, day 8. Tolls: 27. Carts over: 33. A fellow from Vell asked whether he could weigh the bridge.
Apple, day 9. Tolls: 12. Gorm says the hinge sings. I oiled it, and it stopped.
Apple, day 10. Tolls: 15. Oil, 1. The boy, 1. Owed nobody.
Apple, day 11. Tolls: 11. Rain. A tutor from Vell passed by.
Apple, day 12. Tolls: 20. Salt for the cow's lick, 2. She has come to expect it.
Apple, day 13. Tolls: 24. The miners said the count board was wrong. It was only early.
Apple, day 14. Tolls: 6. New pin for the hinge from the forge, 2. Gorm says it is from his second-best pile.
Apple, day 15. Tolls: 17. Gorm's debt paid in full, 14 since Thaw. Now we are square, he said. Now I am poor, I said.
Apple, day 16. Tolls: 8. First hard frost on the planks. Blankets on the cow and the horse, and the boy's coat on the gate.
Apple, day 17. Tolls: 23. Carts over: 27. Big hulls in the Saltreach yard, under canvas.
Apple, day 18. Tolls: 18. Paid Ida for the loaf on tick, 2. She said the thanks were the interest.
Apple, day 19. Tolls: 10. The last ore carts from the upper level. Copper enough.
Apple, day 20. Tolls: 21. The boy's wage for the month, 20. His mother, 2 more, for the loaf she sent up unasked.
Apple, day 21. Tolls: 4. Quiet. I counted the planks. There are 31.
Apple, day 22. Tolls: 0. Shut. Stew at the mine kitchen. Maud said the stew was too thin. Hesk says that about all stew.
Apple, day 23. Tolls: 19. Hay, 10 bales, 10. The barn is full again.
Apple, day 24. Tolls: 16. Lamp oil, 3. The boy, 1. Owed nobody.
Apple, day 25. Tolls: 12. Carts over: 14. The bread cart went over at first light. The bread was still warm.
Apple, day 26. Tolls: 9. A child on the bridge counted the cart wheels, to forty, and asked for more carts tomorrow.
Apple, day 27. Tolls: 22. Carts over: 29. The best Apple I have kept.
Apple, day 28. Tolls: 14. The hinge sings on windy days. The wind has been out all day.
Apple, day 29. Tolls: 7. Finished the ink. Started the Leaffall book, which smells of the mill.
Apple, day 30. Tolls: 0. Closed the Apple book. Income, 422. Spent on hay, oil, salt, a debt and a pin. Left in the chest, enough for the winter, if the winter is what the old folk say.
%%
Ledger, the first snow
Kept by Rowan, watchman of the north wall, at his house at the edge of Northpoint. Day by day, in emeralds.

First of Frost. Coal, two carts: 12. Bread from the bakers' cart: 3. Lamp wax: 1.

Second of Frost. Potatoes for the cellar: 9. One pumpkin: 2. A good harvest, the old men say, the best in the north.

Third of Frost. A fox took a hen from the yard. No charge. The fox has children.
%%
Three Wells House Book, Longday 199
Mother gave me the emerald box to count. She says the house needs a proper account, even if we sell only a little.
First day. Sold a basket of carrots, 2 emeralds. Bought flour, 1 emerald. The flour sack split at the corner.
Second day. Sold three jars of honey, 6 emeralds. Bought a glass jar, 2 emeralds. Father said the old jar was not broken. I showed him the crack.
Third day. Sold apples from Ambrook, 4 emeralds. Kept one apple for the table. Mother says kept is not sold.
Fourth day. Sold two loaves, 2 emeralds. Bought coal, 1 emerald.
Fifth day. No sales. Father took 1 emerald for a new latch. He says the door now stays shut. It does, if we lift it.
The box holds 9 emeralds. I counted them twice. Mother counted once and found the same number.
%%
Ledger: Cal's forge
Kept by Cal, smith. Emeralds. A summary, as the mine master asked, for the council at Copperhold.
Money in, Thaw to Longday: 97 emeralds, from shoeing (21), tools (38), mending (14), the mine gate (12), the play (pie, not counted), the honey and eggs (not counted), and the rest from small things.
Money out, Thaw to Longday: 79 emeralds, of which iron (19), coal (12), copper (8), leather (4), the apprentice's wax and oil (3), the tanner's last roll (2), wages for the buckets (5), and the rest in bread, nails and a new anvil face, which cost 22 and is the best thing I have bought in ten years.
Balance: 18 emeralds in hand. The forge is well. The hinges are sound. The fire has not gone out since Thaw. The bellows sigh. The anvil rings clear.
Note for the council: the lower levels are wet, and the drain men want two more pumps before Leaffall. I have made the iron parts for both, and they are in the back of the forge, wrapped in sacking. The forge is ready when they ask.
Cal, smith, Copperhold road
%%
Ledger: the Hebb farm, the year's tally
Kept by Lise at the end of Reaping, for the farm and for the seed loan at Vell. Emeralds. Written with the tally of the helper's work beside it.
Money in, the year so far: 412 emeralds from eggs, cheese, wool, lambs, honey, seed and the boy who helped at lambing, who paid us back in work.
Money out, the year so far: 498 emeralds, of which 61 for hay, 40 for flour, 33 for boards, nails and the tinsmith, 37 for the mill, 28 for wages, 22 for the tower keeper, 18 for salt, and the rest for small things, the bucket and the hats.
Loss by storm: 4 hens, 1 hat, 5 sacks of seed wheat saved and 2 lost, the hen house roof for a week, and the low field's first wheat, not yet known.
The helper's work, the year: 412 sacks carried. 96 buckets of water to the top field. 3 buckets lost, all three in the well. 2 arms bent, 1 mended. 1 pie carried home uneaten. 0 mistakes that cost the farm a sack. 1 mistake that cost the barn its dignity, when it put the hay on the cart with the calf inside it. The calf was not hurt. It is still annoyed.
Balance owed to Vell for the seed loan, due at Harvest: 42 emeralds.
If the low field stands at Reaping, we will pay it, and the cart will be bought back from the Copperhold carter at a loss of one emerald. If it does not stand, we will sell the helper's spare crystal and say nothing about it to the mine.
Lise has written the figures on the wall by the door as well, in red, so the boy cannot miss them. He says he will not miss them. He says he has already paid his share in bun.
%%
Teague's winter ledger by the ridge
The house stands at Northpoint's edge, where the road leaves the last row of lamps. I make pots, cups and roof tiles. The wind dries the clay too fast, so I keep a wet cloth over each bowl. These are the days and the emeralds.
First day: Sold a wide bowl to Mira for 2 emeralds. She said it was for bread. Bought flour from Pell for 1.
Second day: Sold two cups to Lantern, 2 emeralds. She paid in emeralds and asked for a jug next time. I told her to bring the jug next time.
Third day: No sale. The kiln took three pieces and broke two. I swept the bits into a sack for the road.
Fourth day: Sold a water jar to a traveler for 3 emeralds. He had snow in his beard and asked whether the tower lamp had been lit all night. I said it had.
Fifth day: Bought potatoes and carrots, 3 emeralds. Pell had no apples. He said the road cart from Ambrook had turned back. He said the bridge was sound.
Sixth day: Sold a roof tile, 1 emerald. A fox came to the hens after dusk and got through the lower fence. I lost one hen. I found its feathers by the shed and set a stone in the gap.
Seventh day: No sale. Mira brought a little jar of honey. She said it was a gift from her brother's farm, though she had carried it from the relay house. I kept it on the shelf and did not open it.
Eighth day: Sold a pot with a blue rim, 2 emeralds. The buyer said it looked like the sky over the ridge. I said the sky was grey. The buyer paid without answering.
Ninth day: Bought coal, 2 emeralds. Lantern said the tower keeper had heard a low hum under the floor. She said it might be the wind in the stone. Mira said the relay house was quiet. They both went back to work.
Tenth day: Sold three cups, 3 emeralds. The cups were plain. The buyer said plain things were easier to keep clean.
Eleventh day: No sale. Snow packed against the north wall. I cleared it with the shovel, then cleared it again after dark.
Twelfth day: Sold a small bowl to a child, 1 emerald. The child held it against the coat all the way home.
Thirteenth day: Mira came for the honey jar. I gave it to her unopened. She laughed and said I had kept the gift safe. She left a loaf on the table.
Fourteenth day: Bought flour and salt from Pell, 2 emeralds. He was going south when I saw him. He said he was going only as far as the inn.
Fifteenth day: No sale. A pale light moved above the ridge. Lantern called it a falling star. A man from the inn said it was a fire in the sky. Mira watched until it went out, then went inside.
Sixteenth day: Sold a jug for 2 emeralds. The buyer was a keeper from the tower. He asked for a lid that would fit tight.
Seventeenth day: No sale. The hens stayed under the roof. The fox came to the fence and left prints in the fresh snow.
Eighteenth day: Sold one bowl, 1 emerald. Counted the purse after supper. There are 9 emeralds. There is flour for three days, coal for two, and a good lid on the hen house.
%%
Ledger: Finch, the lost goat
Finch, glassblower, farm outside Saltreach, winter of 204. A short ledger, because very little was sold, and a long one, because of the goat.
Day 1. Sold 2 panes. Got 4. A goat arrived in the yard. Brown, with one horn. Not mine. Paid nothing.
Day 2. The goat is still here. It ate a sack of straw. Straw 1 lost. Sold a bottle. Got 2.
Day 3. Went to the farm on the slope to ask if they had lost a goat. They had. It had been gone since Reaping. The farmer was glad. I did not charge him for the straw.
Day 4. The goat came back. It had walked home, been fed, and returned. I think it likes the glass house, which is warm. Paid nothing.
Day 5. Sold a window to the new house. Got 9. Paid 1 for sand.
Day 6. The goat stood on the kiln. I do not know how. Cost: nothing, but one very hot goat.
Day 7. Sent the goat home by cart. Paid the carter 2. Got a letter of thanks from the farmer.
Day 8. The goat is back. The farmer says it is not his now. I accept this.
Day 9. The cat will not stay out. It sits on the goat. The goat does not mind.
Day 10. Sold 6 panes in one day. Got 18. Paid 2 for coal. A good day.
Day 12. Counted the stock. A bowl is missing. I think the goat has eaten it.
Day 14. Looked at the goat. The goat looked at me. Neither of us said a thing.
Totals. In 41, out 8. Left 33, a goat.
%%
Letter: Quill to the keeper at Three
To the keeper of the relay at Three Wells, from Quill, who keeps the night watch at the Halfway Inn. Summer, the 198th year.
Friend, a small thing, but you asked to hear of trouble on the road, so here it is.
On the fourth night of Melon a zombie came to the gate. One only. It rattled the latch and stood in the torchlight a while. I did not open the gate. I lit two more torches on the posts and it went away down toward the brook. In the morning I found its marks in the mud and nothing else. No harm done to anyone.
The latch is old. I have mended it twice. If the council can spare a hinge and a bar of iron, the smith at Three Wells could make it new. I would pay from the inn's tin, but the tin is thin this summer, what with the roof.
Which brings me to the roof. The east end leaks. Not badly. A drip over the third bed by the window, and the guest there put his hat on the floor to catch it and was pleased with himself. I have put a bucket. The bucket is full every morning now. I would like a roofer before Leaffall, if one can come.
The hearth is well. It has not gone out in twenty two years. I count them now like a proud man counts his children.
Tell the keeper at Vell that the road is dry and the carts are many, and that the riddle board by the hearth has a new riddle about a fox. Nobody has solved it. Not even Pell, and Pell tries every time he passes.
All well here. Keep your lamps trimmed.
Quill, the Halfway Inn.
%%
Reedend box: the dry well
Kept by Teasel, who keeps the box. Longday, 206. All sums in emeralds.

First. The well gave a bucket of mud. Then half a bucket. Then a noise like a cough. That is the end of the well.
Second. Water from Lowmarsh, 4 barrels, by cart. Paid 2.
Third. 4 barrels more. Paid 2. The carter has started to smile at us. This is a bad sign.
Fourth. Lowered the longest rope in Reedend. The well is deeper than the rope. A new rope: 1.
Fifth. Wren walked out from Lowmarsh and told us not to drink the marsh water, however clear it looks. She said it to forty people. Forty-one, with the carter.
Sixth. Everyone washed in the marsh. The Marl twins washed three times and came out browner.
Seventh. 4 barrels more. Paid 2.
Eighth. Meeting in the shed. Dig a new well, or carry water until the end of time. Hands up for digging: 31. Hands up for carrying: none.
Ninth. The box held 52. Water and rope have taken 7. A new well will cost about 40. The shed voted for the well, and Fen voted twice, and was counted once.
Left in the box: 45.
%%
Letter: Wren to the healer at Three
Dear friend,
The spring market is going well enough. Fish are thin, but the honey sells, and the reeds are good for baskets. People come from the ridge for the jars.
The cough is back. It is not the winter cough. It comes grey, and slow, and it sits in the chest. I have tried the reed syrup and the honey and the steam. Some get better. Some do not.
Two families have asked me if it is the water. I tell them the wells are clean and I mean it. But I have heard people say it came off the ships at Saltreach, and I have heard people say it came up from the mines, and I have heard a fisherman say the frogs went quiet in the north marsh before the cough came. He is a good fisherman and a poor teller of things.
The boat from the east pier was late home. It came in at dark with no fish. The man would not say what he saw. Only that the fog was grey and the water was cold.
Moss is steady. He carries the water and does not complain. I am teaching him the jars.
If you have the strong root, send some. I have run out.
Wren
%%
Market accounts, Lowmarsh, spring
Tally of the market at Lowmarsh, kept by Wren at the stall by the healing house. Prices in emeralds.
Fifth of Thaw: reeds 3 bunches, 2. Fish, 6. Jars of reed honey, 4. A woman came asking for a syrup for a cough. I sold her the last of the winter kind.
Sixth of Thaw: a cart of turnips from Three Wells stuck in the mud at the ford. We pulled it out with two horses and a rope. The carter gave me a jar of honey for my trouble. I did not ask for it.
Seventh of Thaw: frogs loud all night. The fish were thin. Two boats out, one back. The other came in at dark, and the man said the water was cold and the nets empty.
Ninth of Thaw: I sold 5 jars of the cough syrup. Moss says the reed beds are late this year. I told him the reed beds are always late. He did not laugh.
%%
Note: the new copper vein
Hesk, at Copperhold, writes to his friend Abel at Lowmarsh.
Abel,
A new vein of copper, on the fifth level. Good color, and close to the old sump. We opened it with picks, no blasting. The stone came away like bread.
The count board says we will be at copper for a season. The forge is happy. Clank carries the buckets up and does not drop one. I told him well done and he said thank you in his small voice, which he learned from the kitchen.
Send glass. We need six panes for the counting room. The miners say the room is too dark to write in. They write their names at the shaft head and cannot read them back.
The snow is gone here. The road is mud. The carts are late.
Hesk
%%
Ledger: the mine gate, a week of Longday
Kept by Oren, clerk, at the mine gate kitchen, Copperhold. All sums in emeralds. The week was hot, and the miners were thirsty.

Day 1. Loaves, 60, at 1 each. Got 60. Soup, 80 bowls, at 1 each. Got 80.
Day 2. Bread, 60, at 1 each. Got 60. Water, 2 buckets, from the well. The well is free, so nothing is paid.
Day 2. Soup, 90 bowls. Got 90. The night shift ate 30 of them before the morning shift arrived.
Day 3. Carrots, one sack, from the farm at the foot of the hill. Paid 4. Beetroot, half a sack. Paid 2.
Day 3. Bread, 58 loaves. Got 58. Two loaves went to the zombie at the gate, who has learned to knock.
Day 4. Apples, 20, from Ambrook by the cart. Paid 6. The miners ate them in an hour.
Day 4. Soup, 85 bowls. Got 85. The miners say the soup has no taste. They have said so every day since Frost.
Day 5. Melon, one, from the Long Road. Paid 3. The cook would not let anyone cut it until the morning shift.
Day 5. Melon in slices, 12, at 1 each. Got 12. The miners ask for the rind to be kept for the pigs.
Day 6. Loaves, 60. Got 60. Market day tomorrow, so the bakers at Three Wells are sending their best.
Day 7. Coal, 6 sacks, at 1 each. Paid 6.
Week: got 610. Spent: 21. Balance carried: 589. The cook says the balance is hers. I say it is the mine's. We will settle it on pay day.
%%
Notice: the north road, winter
By order of the road wardens, posted at the inn at Northpoint.
The north road is open as far as the last waymark. Past that it is snow to the knees and the wind takes the path.
Travelers going north should carry a torch and a second torch. The waymarks have stood the winter well. Little stones have been left on top of them. We do not know who leaves them. We are glad of them.
A cart is stuck in the drift by the third bridge. The owner is with it. Two men are digging. Do not pass without asking if they want a hand.
The inn at Northpoint has beds and soup and a warm yard. The keeper is Dell, who mends nets and keeps the accounts straight.
No one goes up to the tower site in a storm. The stone will wait. The stone has waited a long time already.
%%
Winter book for Teague's house
A house at the edge of Northpoint. Teague keeps this account beside the clay jars. The cold has stayed, and the road is hard underfoot.
First day: Sold two bowls to Mira, 3 emeralds. She chose the heavy one and said it would not tip in the wind. Bought flour from Pell, 2 emeralds.
Second day: No sale. Fired six cups. Three came out sound. The rest have cracks from the cold air in the shed.
Third day: Sold a jug to Lantern, 2 emeralds. She brought a sack of coal from the tower store. I paid 1 emerald and carried it inside.
Fourth day: Sold a little pot to a child from the lower lane, 1 emerald. The child had been sent for a pot of salt. The salt came home in the child's mitten.
Fifth day: Bought potatoes, carrots and a loaf from Pell, 4 emeralds. He said the south road was empty. He said this as if it were good news.
Sixth day: No sale. A fox came to the hens at dusk. It squeezed under the fence and took one. I found a red feather by the water trough. I raised the fence with two stones.
Seventh day: Sold a plate and three cups, 4 emeralds. The buyer was Mira. She said the cups were for guests. I asked when the guests would come. She said she did not know.
Eighth day: No sale. Snow covered the path to the relay house. Lantern cleared it before noon. She came home with wet sleeves and a dry loaf.
Ninth day: Sold two jars, 3 emeralds. A traveler paid with an emerald and a piece of copper. I returned the copper. He seemed glad to have it back.
Tenth day: Bought kindling, 1 emerald. The wind pushed snow against the back door. I used a broken roof tile to hold the latch.
Eleventh day: No sale. The sky over the ridge shone pale green for a short while. A traveler said it was fire far off. Pell said it was light on ice. Mira said neither. She did not say what it was.
Twelfth day: Sold a small bowl, 1 emerald. Lantern brought honey from Ambrook, sent by Mira. She said it was a gift for the cold days. I put it on the shelf above the stove.
Thirteenth day: No sale. Shared the honey with Lantern. She said it tasted like summer. I said summer was a long way from Northpoint.
Fourteenth day: Sold a water jug, 2 emeralds. The buyer had walked from the inn. He left before the snow began again.
Fifteenth day: No sale. Counted the money: 12 emeralds after food and coal. The hens are safe for now. I heard no fox at the fence tonight.
%%
Ledger: Cal's forge
Kept by Cal, smith, at the forge on the Copperhold road. Emeralds. Spring.
Thaw, 1st. Iron, 4 ingots, from the mine gate, 4 emeralds. Coal, 1 sack, 2. Shoed the mine master's grey horse, 3 emeralds. He paid in full and gave a ribbon for the boy.
Thaw, 3rd. Mended two shovels for the sorting shed. 1 emerald each, paid in bread. Mended a hinge for the kitchen door. Free. The cook says she will feed me for the rest of the year. I said one hinge a year is enough.
Thaw, 5th. Copper, 6 ingots, from the Deep Works, 12 emeralds. The copper is good and pink. Made four buckets for the fields. Sold them at 3 each, 12.
Thaw, 8th. A jar of honey from the Ambrook cart, to the forge, for the apprentice's joints. 2 emeralds. The apprentice does not eat honey, but it likes the smell, and I have decided the jar is for me.
Thaw, 9th. Repaired the bellows. Leather from the tanner at Three Wells, 2 emeralds. The bellows now sounds like a sigh, which the boy says is much better than before.
Thaw, 12th. Sold two knives and a spade to the Hollow Brook farm, 4 emeralds. They owed me from Leaffall. Paid.
Thaw, 14th. Coal short. Bought 3 sacks from the Copperhold cart at 2 each, 6. The carter says the mines are drier this spring. I said that was good news for the forge.
%%
Market day at Lowmarsh
The market at Lowmarsh is on the boards by the water, where the posts go down into the mud and the planks move a little when many people walk on them.
Early in spring the stalls come out. Honey in jars, reeds in bunches, fish on cold stone, baskets, boots, and a woman who mends nets and tells you about it.
The frogs are loud. A boy sells frogs to people who want frogs, which is not many people, but he is patient.
A cart came from Three Wells and stuck at the ford. Six people pushed and two horses pulled. The carter stood in the water up to his knees and said he would not come that way again, and everyone knew he would.
Late in the day a boat came in. It was late, and the woman on the pier did not move until it touched the boards. Then she moved very fast.
People talk about the cough. Some say it is the water. Some say it is the ships. A man from the mines said it is the cold in the deep stone, and another said the deep stone is warm now, which made everyone quiet for a moment.
Then the frogs started again, and the market went on.
%%
Ledger: Pike farm, a week in Longday
Nell Pike, outside Vell. All sums in emeralds.
The 3rd. Eggs to the Archive kitchen, 60. Got 5. Oren counted twice, as always. It is good to find something that is as always.
The 5th. Lamp oil, 2 jugs. Paid 6. A year ago it was 2. The oil seller says everyone is buying. I asked why. He said he did not ask.
The 7th. Cheese to the Halfway cart, 3 rounds. Got 6.
Week: got 11. Spent 6. Hens well.
%%
Notice: mill wheel broken, and a dance
Posted at the notice board by the east well, Three Wells, and sent on to Vell and Kettle Ridge. Autumn of 201. Dace, mayor.

Friends. The wheel of the old mill at Ambrook broke a spoke on the ninth of Apple, and Jory the miller is mending it. Until the wheel turns again, bring your grain to the mill pond only in the morning, when the water is slow.

Jory says the spoke was rotten and he knew it and did nothing. He says this loudly and to everyone, so that nobody else has to say it. The mill will turn by the first of Leaffall. Jory has never yet missed a promise about his wheel.

For the wheel, the folk at Ambrook ask for oak. Pell will carry oak from Vell on his cart. Leave it at the bridge with the loose plank, and mind the plank.

The autumn dance is at the square on the last of Apple, round the three wells. Bring a lantern. The lamps at the corners will be lit. The inn of twelve beds has twelve beds and asks that you bring your own blanket if you can.

The school house door was painted again by the children. It is very yellow now. The mayor's house is not yellow. This is not a complaint.

Rules for the dance: no fires but the lamps. Keep the wells clear. If a creeper comes to the edge of the square, call a grown person and keep the torches lit. Do not stand on the wall. The top row is loose and it is loose on purpose.

Bel has asked me to say that she will sing. I am saying it. Dace.
%%
Ledger: the mine gate, one day
Kept by Oren, clerk, at the mine gate kitchen, Copperhold. All sums in emeralds.

Day 1. Loaves, 40, at 1 each. Got 40.
Day 1. Soup, 60 bowls, at 1 each. Got 60. Two bowls spilled by a zombie. Not paid.
Day 1. Zombie at the gate. The watch hit it with a shovel, and the zombie took the shovel. Paid 1 for a new one.
Spent: 1. Got: 100. Balance: 99. I am not sure about the zombie. I have written it down anyway.
%%
Ferris, ledger, the lean month
Frost, 2nd. Cold market. Few buyers, and most of them were just looking. Sold 4 jars of honey, 8 emeralds. Sold 6 sacks of dried apples, 12 emeralds. The dried apples sell better than the fresh ones now. Old folk, I think, who want something to chew on in the long nights.
Frost, 5th. A rumor from the coast, brought by a fishmonger who came up the Long Road in a hurry. He said the big ships at Saltreach have been taken out of the harbour and sent south in the dark, all of them, and that the families who went with them did not come back. He said it as if it were news about the price of salt. He said he had it from his cousin, who had it from a carter. I asked him what the carter said. He said the carter did not say. I think the fishmonger had not heard anything at all, only been told something by a man who had been told by another man.
Frost, 6th. Bought 4 candles from the candle shop, 4 emeralds. Lit one at the stall in the evening. It was very bright.
Frost, 8th. The relay tower on the hill above Ambrook has been silent since the fourth. No blinks at night. The keeper at Three Wells says the tower to the north has gone silent too. The tower beyond that, the keeper will not say. Dace has put a notice up at the square saying the council is looking into it. Nobody read the notice to the end. It was very long, and it said the council was looking into it several times.
Frost, 9th. Sold 3 jars of honey, 6. Paid the rent to the mill, 1. Paid the rent to the boys for the lantern, 2.
Frost, 10th. The bees have gone quiet in the hive by the pond. Ama says they are only in their winter sleep. She says it every year, and it has been true every year. I am not sure this year is the same. I have no proof. I have a feeling in my neck when I walk past the hive, which is not an accounting entry, and so I will leave it out.
%%
The Stile Inn ledger
Kept by Cleo, miner, for the hamlet of Stile near Kettle Ridge, over two weeks of autumn. A long ledger, because a cave was found under a farmer's field, a song contest was held, and half the district came by. The innkeeper had broken his leg and Cleo did the accounts in his place. In emeralds.

Week one.

First day. In 30, out 8. Quiet.
Second day. In 25, out 7. Quiet.
Third day. In 52, out 16. The cave found under Brannock's field. People start to come.
Fourth day. In 88, out 30. Ropes bought. Lanterns bought.
Fifth day. In 94, out 28. Cleo down the cave.
Sixth day. In 62, out 20. The first copper from the cave brought up for the smith.
Seventh day. In 40, out 12. Crowds thinner.

Week one: in 391, out 121. Kept: 270.

Week two.

First day. In 35, out 10. A surveyor arrives from Copperhold. He is polite and says little.
Second day. In 45, out 14. The surveyor goes down the cave with Cleo and Brannock. He says the cave runs under three fields, not one.
Third day. In 50, out 15. Brannock's cousins arrive. All of them claim a share.
Fourth day. In 60, out 18. A song contest is held in the yard.
Fifth day. In 75, out 22. The surveyor leaves. He says the council will decide.
Sixth day. In 38, out 12. The council letter arrives. The cave belongs to the hamlet. The copper belongs to the council. The song belongs to Mina, who won the kettle.
Seventh day. In 32, out 10. The hamlet is quiet again.

Week two: in 335, out 101. Kept: 234.

Two weeks: in 726, out 222. Kept: 504.

Notes by Cleo.

The cave. It runs under Brannock's field, the field of the miller and the field of the old woman at the end of the lane. All three agreed to share the look tickets, equal thirds. The surveyor says there is copper in the walls, a thin line, and in one place a wide pool of dark water. Nobody knows how deep.

The contest. The prize went to Mina, a shepherd, for a song about her dog. It was a good song. The dog sat in the front row and listened.

The innkeeper. His leg is mending. He says he will be back at the bar by Frost. In the meantime, he reads the ledger every morning and says: why is the beer so cheap? I say: because it is your beer. He says: then raise it. I say: you raise it.

The Stile Inn has been kept by his family for sixty years. It has never made so much in a fortnight. Cleo, who is a miner and not a merchant, finds this strange.
%%
Dunn's spring ledger, 183
Northpoint boat shed. Dunn, builder. All sums in emeralds.

Sowing 6. Received 12 for a boat from the west cove fishers. Paid 4 for spruce boards. Paid 1 for nails. Paid 1 for bread and potatoes. Balance 6.

Sowing 7. Sold three pairs of oars. Received 6. Paid 2 for wool and leather straps. Paid 1 for a bucket of milk. Balance 9.

Sowing 8. The keeper asked for a small boat to carry lamp oil and tools along the shore. Received 8 in advance. Bought boards for 3. Bought iron for 1. Balance 13.

Sowing 9. Finished the keeper's boat. Received 8. Paid 2 to Rill for help lifting it. Rill says she lifted most of it. I say the boat was on the blocks. We agreed to write two emeralds. Balance 19.

Blossom 1. Sold the old skiff for 4. Paid 1 for bread, carrots and apples. Paid 1 for coal. Balance 21.

Blossom 2. Bought boards for 5. Bought nails for 1. No sale. Balance 15. The boards were wet. I stacked them by the wall, then forgot the wall leaks. They are now wet in a more useful way.

Blossom 3. Sold a fishing boat for 10. Paid 1 for the cart to bring spruce from the lower road. Paid 1 for eggs. Balance 23.

Blossom 4. Sold two oars for 3. Bought wool for 1. Paid 1 for honey. The honey is for the workers and not for the builder. Balance 24. I have written that rule where all can see it.

Blossom 5. Paid 2 to mend the shed roof. Rill says she did not mend it, she stopped it from being a hole. The roof is sound. Balance 22.

The keeper's boat rows well. She returned it with one fish in the bottom. I count the fish as a gift and not as payment.
%%
Ledger: the bridge, Reaping
Ledger of Rye, keeper of the stream bridge below Copperhold. Sums in emeralds.
Day 1. Carts over: 14, of them ore carts, 6. Tolls: 20. Paid the boy who lifts the gate: 1.
Day 2. Rain. Carts over: 5. Tolls: 7. The oak rail on the east side cracked. Mended it. Oak cost 2.
Day 3. Carts over: 22. Tolls: 31. Hesk paid his toll in cooking fat, which the bridge cannot eat. Took it anyway, and gave him a receipt, which he did not want.
%%
Accounts: The wet shoe box
House at the edge of Lowmarsh, fifth of Melon, 190.

The house stands where the boardwalk ends and the mud begins. I keep this account by the door, above the shoe box. The box is not for shoes now. It holds the emeralds, because my old purse has a hole.

First day. Fish from the weir, 5 emeralds. Reeds, 2 emeralds. I sold one jar of honey for 3 emeralds. Total in, 10.
I bought bread and carrots, 3 emeralds. Left, 7.

Second day. A traveler paid 2 emeralds for a dry bed. He said it was not dry. I showed him the roof. The roof was dry. His boots were not.
Bought lamp oil, 1 emerald. Left, 8.

Third day. Eggs, 2 emeralds. A basket of beetroot, 2 emeralds. Bought flour, 2 emeralds. Left, 10.
Wren came to check on Mara. No fee. She took the last heel of bread for the walk home.

Fourth day. Fish, 4 emeralds. Reeds, 1 emerald. I paid 3 emeralds for a new latch. The old one opened whenever a frog leaned on it.
Left, 12.

Fifth day. No trade. A frog sat in the shoe box. I moved the emeralds to a bowl.
Lise
%%
Ledger: pay day, the end of summer
Kept by Oren, clerk. Pay day is the last day of Melon, when the kitchen pays its helpers and the miners pay for their bread. Everyone is paid in emeralds, counted out on the table.

Cook: 40, for the summer. She says it is not enough. She has been told it is more than the mine has ever paid a cook, and she says that is not the same thing.
Watch, two men: 12 each, and a loaf. The shovel is paid for from their share, which they did not expect.
Pig man: in ham, as before. Not in the book.
Glassmaker: 4, for the two panes. He asked for more and was refused, politely.
Carrier boys, three of them: 2 each. One asked for a pie instead. The cook agreed, and the pie is being made now.
Clank, the mine's apprentice, carries the bread up from the kitchen each morning. It was paid 1 emerald, which it put in its box with the others. It has not asked what they are for.

Total paid out: 79. Balance on the book: 991. The mine has been asked to check that figure. The mine says the figure is right, and that the cook is still owed the 10 she was short on Day 3.

Written on the last line of the book, in the cook's own hand: Thank you for the summer. Mind the melon next year.
%%
Ledger: the market day at Copperhold
Kept by Oren, clerk. The market day in the mine gate square, where the stalls come up from Three Wells and down from Kettle Ridge. Every sum is in emeralds, and the cook checked every line, because she does not trust clerks.

Stall 1, the baker from Three Wells. Loaves, 80, at 1 each. Got 80. Paid for the stall, 2. Balance 78.
Stall 2, the cider maker from Ambrook. Jugs, 12, at 3 each. Got 36. The cook bought three jugs for the kitchen. Paid 9. Balance 27.
Stall 3, the net mender from the pond. Nets, 4, at 5 each. Got 20. The miners bought two to hang over the beds at the back. The mender asked why. The cook said the miners sleep better under a net.
Stall 4, the wool carder from Kettle Ridge. Wool, 6 balls, at 2 each. Got 12. Grey balls only. The blue wool is for the boats, and the boats are a long way off.
Stall 5, the candle maker. Candles, 30, at 1 each. Got 30. Paid 0. She says she is owed for the summer, and so am I.
Stall 6, the melon grower. Melons, 4, at 4 each. Got 16. The biggest melon of the day took two miners and a cart. The grower says it is the best melon in Copperhold's history. Oren says the cart has a crack in its side.
Stall 7, a fiddler from Saltreach. Played for two hours. The miners threw in 4, into his hat. Paid 0. The hat is his own.
A zombie came to the gate again at dusk. The watch sent it home with a loaf. Paid 0.
Total: got 268. Spent: 21. Balance: 247. The cook has checked every line and says the count is wrong by one. She has not yet said which line.
%%
Accounts: Summer at the reed gate
House at the edge of Lowmarsh, seventeenth of Longday, 206.
Lise keeps the purse. Her niece Ena keeps the board when Lise is busy.

First day. Fish, 5 emeralds. Reeds, 2. Honey, 3. Total in, 10. Bread, flour and carrots, 5. Left, 5.
Second day. Eggs, 2. Fish, 3. A traveler paid 2 for a bed. He left one muddy boot by the door and took the other with him. We have kept the odd boot beside the broom.
Third day. Honey, 6. Reeds, 1. Thread, 1. Left, 13.
Fourth day. Fish, 4. Eggs, 2. We bought a new bucket for 3. The old bucket leaks, but only when full. It is not useful as a bucket.
Fifth day. Three jars of honey, 9. Bread, 2. Oil for the lamps, 1. Left, 20.

Sixth day. No trade in the morning. A cart came from Copperhold with a cracked wheel. The driver said a new copper vein had been found in a side cut above the old sump. He had copper dust on both sleeves and no spare wheel. We gave him a bowl of stew while he worked. He paid 1 emerald for supper and left the bowl clean.

He said the vein was narrow, but the copper came out bright. His apprentice carried the pieces in a basket. The basket was too small, so the apprentice made two trips. The driver said this was careful work. The apprentice brought back the basket each time and set it in exactly the wrong place.

Seventh day. Fish, 4. Honey, 3. Reeds, 2. We bought potatoes, 2. Left, 28.
Ena says the odd boot is now a house for a beetle. I told her not to charge rent.
Lise
%%
Ledger: Hebb farm, Longday, the storm
Kept by Lise. Emeralds. The storm came in from the north on Longday, the first day of the fair.
Longday, 1st. Storm at the second bell. Wind from the north-west. Rain flat across the field. Everyone at the house. The helper went out to shut the barn, and shut it, and was struck by a sheet of tin off the roof of the hen house. Its arm is bent. The copper will mend. The tin is ruined, 2 emeralds to the tinsmith for the new sheet.
Longday, 1st, later. Lost the hen house roof. Lost 4 hens into the ditch. Found 2 of them in the morning at the bottom of the lane, very cross and very wet. The other 2 we did not find. Lost, not paid for.
Longday, 2nd. The water came up to the door of the lower barn. Carried the seed wheat out on a cart, one sack at a time, to the hill. Seven sacks. Saved five. The helper carried each sack as it was handed up. It did not drop one. It stood in the water to its knees and waited for the next sack, the way it was taught.
Longday, 2nd, evening. Paid the carter who brought the boards, 3 emeralds. Paid the boy who brought the nails, 1 emerald and a loaf. The nails were rusted, so the boy gave a second loaf and did not say he was sorry.
Longday, 4th. The roof is on again. The hen house is not the same shape. The hens do not mind the shape.
Longday, 6th. Wheat in the low field is flat. Not growing. Not dying. Lying down. Nobody can say if it will stand. We will see at Reaping.
Longday, 9th. Bought boards for the lower barn, 9 emeralds. Bought nails, 2 emeralds. Spent on the storm, all told, 15 emeralds, plus the seed I lost, which is not in this book, since it cannot be bought back.
Longday, 10th. Sold the spare cart to the Copperhold carter, 14 emeralds. I did not want to sell it. I did not want the storm either.
Longday, 12th. Fair at Three Wells. Did not go. Sent the helper with the eggs and it came back with 1 emerald for them and one pie it had been given, which it did not eat, and which it carried back as carefully as an egg.
Longday, 13th. Tower keeper's message from Vell: the seed loan is extended to Harvest, on the condition that the wheat stands. It will stand. It has to.
%%
Abel's glass stall, Lowmarsh market
Abel the glassblower writes this. I keep the stall on the boardwalk, near the fish weir, where the light is good.
People say my bottles are the clearest in the marsh. I say the marsh makes the glass. The sand is black and fine, and the fire burns even.
On market days I sell small bottles for 3 the emerald. Panes are 2 each. A big jar with a lid is 5.
Wren buys panes for her healing house. She keeps her jars on high shelves. She says glass lets her see what is in a jar without opening it. I say that is what glass is for.
A boy came by and asked what a bottle is. I said it holds things. He said his grandmother holds things. I gave him a small bottle for a fish. He gave me a fish. The fish was not fresh. We both laughed.
I do not sell to the boats on the water. They come and go. My stall stays.
%%
Ledger: a debt paid, Apple
Ledger of Rye, the farm by the stream bridge. The debt owed to Gorm, smith at the forge in Copperhold, since Thaw: 14 emeralds for the new hinge on the bridge gate, and a new shoe for the grey horse. Owed in full all summer. Paid in full this week.
Day 1. Paid Gorm 2. He said it was not enough. He was right.
Day 2. Sold the winter eggs to Ida's bakery at Three Wells for 8. Ida paid in good emeralds and asked after my knees.
Day 3. Gorm came down to the bridge for his dinner. Paid him 4 more. He counted it twice. He said the count was right, and he said it as if that were a surprise.
Day 4. Bought the lamp oil for the bridge, 3. Not owed to anybody. Paid at once, for once.
Day 5. Paid the last 8. Gorm said, "Now we are square." Rye said, "Now I am poor." Gorm laughed, and gave me back one emerald for the tea he did not drink.
Day 5. Owed to nobody in Copperhold now. Owed Ida 2 for a loaf she gave on tick in Melon. Paid.
%%
Ledger: the borrowed horse
Nell Pike, outside Vell. Longday.
The 10th. Dunn the carter came with his grey mare. "Keep her until we come back," he said. We. He did not say who. I said we have no room in the stable. He said she eats little. She eats a great deal.
The 12th. The mare pulled our cart to market as if she had always done it. Sold 8 sacks of wheat. Got 2. Wheat is cheap. I will say no more about it.
The 15th. Shoes for the mare. Paid 2. The smith asked whose mare. I said Dunn's. He said Dunn went down the coast road with his family and three chairs.
She is not ours. We keep her. Those are two separate things, and I write them separately.
%%
Ferris, ledger, the Ambrook stall, deep
Deepsnow, 1st. First snow on the pond. The reeds stand up out of it like the bones of a boat. Took the stall down and carried the stock to the storehouse. Stock on hand: 3 jars of honey, 11 sacks of dried apples, 2 bundles of wool, 1 lantern, 6 candles.
Deepsnow, 4th. The mill is working still. Jory grinds in the dark with his lamp, and the wheel turns slowly under the ice. Bought flour, 6 sacks, 18 emeralds. The flour is grey this year, from the cold wheat. Jory says it is good flour. It looks like dust that has been thinking.
Deepsnow, 8th. Owed to me: 2 jars of honey by the Long Road man, who has not come back. 4 emeralds by the bakery at Three Wells for the wool. Owed by me: 6 emeralds to the boys for the lantern, 18 to the mill for the flour. The sums are not even. They are never even in winter.
Deepsnow, 9th. The boys who cleared the lane came to the storehouse door this morning. They had found another copper ring in the rubble, the twin of the first one. They asked whether it was worth anything. I said I did not know. They asked whether the creeper had been wearing it. I said I did not think creepers wore rings. They looked at each other, and then at the ring, and then they went away very quietly.
Deepsnow, 10th. Lantern lit in the storehouse. Ledger finished for the year. The mill wall is standing. The apples are dried. The honey is safe in the jars. The sums are wrong by a little. It is only money, and money is only a way of counting what we have left, and what we have left is a good deal.
%%
Ledger: Cal's forge
Kept by Cal, smith. Emeralds. The school at Three Wells asked the forge for help with the play.
Blossom, 2nd. Asked by the schoolmistress to make a lamp frame for the play, the one with the fox. Iron, 1 ingot, 2 emeralds. Made the frame from the old lamp hook. It came out bigger than the stage. The teacher says it will do for the back of the stage, where nobody looks.
Blossom, 4th. Made a sword out of a broken garden rake, for the hero of the play. The hero is a boy named Hobb, aged nine, who says he will kill the fox. The fox is played by the miller's son, who says he will not be killed. Both were given a rehearsal of the fight. The sword was too heavy. I filed it down. It is now too light. I filed it no more.
Blossom, 6th. Mended the stage hinges for the curtain. 1 emerald. The curtain is made of an old sail from the Saltreach boat, which the schoolmistress bought for a sack of apples. I said the sail smelled of fish. She said so did the play.
Blossom, 9th. Hammered out twelve tin stars for the costumes of the sky. 1 emerald for the tin, the rest free. The children asked for more stars. I said the sky has a limit, and they said the sky is very large. I made twelve more.
Blossom, 11th. The apprentice from the school loft carried the lamp frame to the stage without a word. It set it on the stand. It did not wobble. The schoolmistress said it was the only thing in the play that was on time.
Blossom, 12th. The play was given at the school. The fox was very good. The hero was very loud. The lamp did not go out. The sword stayed in its sheath, which the hero said was a great shame and the audience said was a mercy. No charge for the play. Cal's paid in a pie.
%%
Northpoint house account
Teague's house stands at the edge of Northpoint, past the last snow fence. This is the winter account. I keep it so I know what went in and what went out.
First day: Sold a pot to the tower keeper for 2 emeralds. Bought flour from Pell for 1.
Second day: Sold four cups, 4 emeralds. Lantern brought back one cup with a crack. I gave her another and kept the cracked one for salt.
Third day: No sale. Shoveled snow from the door and the path to the hens. The fox left prints by the fence. I put a board over the low gap.
Fourth day: Sold a jug to a traveler, 2 emeralds. He asked if the sea was near. I told him it was not. He looked north anyway.
Fifth day: Bought a sack of potatoes for 3 emeralds. One had a soft spot. It went in the stew.
Sixth day: Sold a bowl to Mira for 1 emerald. She asked for a plain one, with no painted mark. She carried it up the hill herself.
Seventh day: No sale. A light showed above the north ridge after dark. Lantern said it was a star behind thin cloud. Mira said it was not ours. I shut the shutters and kept the stove fed.
Eighth day: Sold two roof tiles, 2 emeralds. The customer paid in copper buttons and one emerald. I took the emerald.
Ninth day: The fox came at the hens. I heard the hens before I saw it. The fox ran when I struck the fence with a shovel. One hen is missing. I bought no more.
Tenth day: Sold a clay jar to the keeper's house, 2 emeralds. They gave me a small loaf with it. The loaf was warm.
Eleventh day: No sale. Lantern brought honey from Ambrook. She said Mira sent it as a gift. I put the jar beside the cracked cup.
Twelfth day: Sold a pot for 2 emeralds. Kept one emerald and spent one on coal. The path to the relay house is clear. The sky was clear too, but nobody stayed outside to look.
%%
Pell, the inn ledger, a birth
Spring, the Brown Hen on the Long Road. Blossom.

First. Beds let: 5, at 2 each. 10. Meals: 14, at 1. 14.
Second. A woman on the road from Vell came in at dusk, near her time. Put her in the loft, in the best bed. No charge. The innkeeper's wife sat with her all night.
Third. A girl was born at the third hour. Mother and child well. The innkeeper gave me a bowl of porridge and told me to stop writing and eat.
Third, continued. The carter gave 3 emeralds for the baby. I gave 2. The cook gave a loaf. Total gifts: 5 emeralds and a loaf.
Fourth. The mother wished to pay for the bed. The innkeeper refused. She paid with a song, which was worth more.
Taken in: 31. Spent: 12. Left: 19.
Note: the baby is called Hen, after the inn. The innkeeper cried.
%%
Ledger of the marsh market
I keep the takings for the stall by the water. Wren lets me write it up when the healing house is quiet.
Thaw: honey 12 emeralds, reeds 6, fish 9, jars 4. The honey sells best in cold weather.
A man from Saltreach bought three jars of the strong kind and said the ships were loading early this year. He did not say where they were going.
A boy asked if the grey cough is in the water. I told him the water is fine. I do not know that. I told him anyway. He was small.
%%
Ledger: the mine gate
Kept by Oren, clerk. Every day is one line, and every week is one total. The cook asked that the zombie be left out. The zombie has not asked for anything, and so it is not owed.

Week one. Got 540. Spent 190. Balance 350.
Day 1. Loaves 60 and soup 80 bowls, both at 1 each. Got 140.
Day 2. Loaves 70 and soup 90 bowls. Got 160.
Day 3. Loaves 50 and soup 60 bowls. Got 110. A pie for the night shift, made from the spoiled beetroot. Paid 2 to the baker for the oven.
Day 4. Water, 4 buckets, from the well. Free. Milk, 3 buckets, from the Ridge cart. Paid 6.
Day 5. Melon, 2, from the Long Road. Paid 6. Sold in slices, 20, at 1 each. Got 20.
Day 6. Market day, at the gate. The market has its own book. The kitchen got 40 from it.
Day 7. Rest day. Paid the watch 4 for the shovel that was lost last month.

Week two. Got 515. Spent 170. Balance 695.
Day 8. Loaves 60, soup 85 bowls. Got 145.
Day 9. Loaves 55, soup 75 bowls. Got 130.
Day 10. Carrots, one sack, from the foot of the hill. Paid 4. Sold as stew, 30 bowls, at 1 each. Got 30.
Day 11. Eggs, 10, from the farm at the foot of the hill. Paid 5. Used all ten in the bread. Nobody complained.
Day 12. Coal, 6 sacks. Paid 6. The coal is short again. The carts are late from the Deep Works.
Day 13. A gift from the bakers of Three Wells: one jar of honey for the cook. Not counted. Not for sale.
Day 14. Rest day. Balance checked. The cook says it is right. Oren says it is right too, which is worrying.

Week three. Got 580. Spent 205. Balance 1070.
Day 15. Loaves 70, soup 90 bowls. Got 160.
Day 16. Loaves 60, soup 80 bowls. Got 140.
Day 17. Melon, one, too big to cut. Paid 3. The cook says it is for the morning shift, and the morning shift says it is for them.
Day 18. Water, 3 buckets, from the well. Free. Apples, 20, from Ambrook. Paid 6.
Day 19. Pig feed, from the scraps, taken by the pig man. Not paid. The pig man is paid in ham, which is not in the book.
Day 20. Rest day. Lamp glass, 2 panes, paid 4 to the glassmaker at the gate.
%%
Ferris, ledger, the last cart
Deepsnow, late. The last cart came up the Long Road in the dark, with the lamps lit on its sides and one horse doing all the work. The carter was Hollis from the coast. He said the Saltreach road is shut below the pass. He said the families are still going, in carts and on foot, south along the shore. He said the big ships are gone from the harbour and the quay is quiet. He did not say what happened to the ships. He said he did not know, and I believed him, because he would not look at me when he said it.
Deepsnow, late. Sold to Hollis, 2 sacks of dried apples at a fair price, which was not a fair price, 4 emeralds. He paid in full and did not ask for change. He took a jar of honey as well, which he did not pay for, and I did not ask.
Deepsnow, late. Owed to me: nothing, from anyone, that I can see. I have written this page in the ledger so that someone who reads it later can see how it stood on the last day I counted. The honey, the apples, the wool, the lantern. The mill wall, half mended. The bees, asleep by the pond. The lamps on the posts, lit against the dark.
Deepsnow, last. Keep the lamps lit. Keep the stock dry. Keep counting, even when the sums do not come out. Especially then.
Ferris, Ambrook
%%
Ledger: Hebb farm, Blossom
Kept by Lise. Emeralds.
Blossom, 1st. Bread from the baker at Copperhold, 6 loaves, 1 emerald. Tea, 1 emerald.
Blossom, 3rd. Paid the mill for grinding, 4 emeralds. The mill lost half the flour. Asked for the half back. Got a loaf instead.
Blossom, 7th. Sold cheese to the mine kitchen, 6 small wheels, 12 emeralds. The cook says they are a bit salty. I say the cook has a bit of salt in his temper.
Blossom, 10th. Bought a new bucket, 2 emeralds. Old bucket fell down the well. Helper is fetching it. Helper says nothing, which is the one good thing about it.
Blossom, 14th. Paid the boy who helped at lambing, 2 emeralds. He wanted 3. He got 2 and a bun.
Blossom, 19th. Sold honey, 2 jars to the market at Three Wells, 4 emeralds. Ama from Ambrook says her bees are not doing well. I told her mine are not doing well either. We are both lying a little.
Blossom, 27th. Storm on the hill. Lost one hen and one hat. Bought a new hat, 1 emerald.
%%
Ledger, the lamp on the hill
Rowan's accounts, Deepsnow. The north relay lamp is on the hill above the house. Written down because the book is what there is.

Fourteenth of Deepsnow. The north lamp did not answer tonight. It has answered every dusk since Thaw, and every dawn. I went up the hill with the lantern and the rope.

Fourteenth, later. The lamp room is cold. The glass is clean in all four panes. The copper ring round the lamp has gone green, the way the old roof did. The desk is tidy. The keeper's book lies open at the last page, and the last line says: "They were not ours. Keep the lamp lit."

I kept the lamp lit until the sea went grey. I paid nobody, because there was nobody to pay.

Fifteenth of Deepsnow. The lamp answered from the south, once, very faint. There was nobody on the hill to answer back. Paid the boy from the cellar 2 to walk up and look. He came back and said the desk was tidy and the book was open. Then he asked whether he should have looked at the lights. I said no.

A girl at the north gate told me they were looking at us. I did not ask her who they were. She said she did not know, and then she said sorry for asking.

Sixteenth of Deepsnow. Lights over the north sea, the Long Road carter says, green and then white, and then gone.

Seventeenth of Deepsnow. The miners at Copperhold say the Deep Works hum at night now, a sound that comes up through the stone. Below the ninth gate the stone is warm. Nobody has gone past the ninth gate since the first snow. They asked for their wages in advance, which they never do.

Eighteenth of Deepsnow. A carter from Lowmarsh says the grey cough is in the reeds again, and that three houses on the marsh have shut their doors. Some blame the water, some the ships, some the mines. Rowan writes all three.

Nineteenth of Deepsnow. Bought oil for the lamp, 4, as always. The lamp on the hill is out. I have not climbed up since the last time. I will climb tonight, because the book says keep the lamp lit, and I am the only one left to read it.
%%
The lamp that blinked a strange message
Linnet, keeper at the relay tower at Ambrook, writes this down in the tower log.
The tenth of Blossom. Clear night, no wind.
At the second hour after dark, the signal lamp blinked. It was not a tower message. It went long, short, short, long, then a pause, then the same again, nine times.
I read the relays every day. I know the signs. This was no sign.
I wrote to Mira at Northpoint. She said her lamp was dark and her rungs were cold. She said, keep the torches lit and write it down. So I write it down.
Jory came up from the mill to see. He said it might be a star. I said stars do not blink in a pattern. He said glass does strange things in the cold. The glass is not cold. It is spring.
I checked the redstone line. It is whole. The quickeners are cool. The big mind on its stand said nothing, as it always does.
In the morning I will clean the lamp room and open the shutters.
Linnet
%%
Accounts: the tutors' house, Vell
The tutors' house, just down the hill from the archive. Nessa, tutor. Autumn of 187. These are the week's accounts in emeralds, kept by me because nobody else will.

Day one. Bread for the drill room, 1. Cheese, 1. The baker's girl brought the bread up the hill herself and stayed to watch the apprentices stand in their row. She says they are better than the boys at school. I did not say what I thought.

Day two. Wax for the drill boards, 1. Two boys from the town came to ask if they could watch. I let them. They were quiet for a whole hour, which is a record for boys.

Day three. New cards for the crystal tray, 2. The card for "Farm" got wet and the word ran. We drew a new one. It shows a field and a row of wheat. The apprentices understood it faster than the old card.

Day four. Repairs to the drill yard torches, 1. A cat slept on the warm stones by the wall all afternoon. Nobody moved it.

Day five. Paid the carrier for sixty letters from the archive for the drills, 3. The carrier says the cart is heavy with paper and light with everything else. He is not wrong.

Day six. Nothing bought. A good day. We drilled the same example forty times and one apprentice got it right thirty-nine times. I wrote the number on the board. It will do better next week.

Day seven. Honey cakes for the drill room, 2. The apprentices cannot eat them. The apprentices watched us eat them. I think they were curious.

Total for the week: 11 emeralds.
Nessa
%%
Ledger: the Northpoint inn, early years
Accounts of the inn at Northpoint hamlet, kept by Dell, who mends nets and minds the inn in winter. In emeralds.
Third of Deepsnow: one bed let to a traveler. 1. Wood for the traveler. 1.
Fourth of Deepsnow: no travelers. The road is snow to the knees.
Fifth of Deepsnow: a cart came up from the south. Two men, one cart, four wheels. They took soup and beds. 3. One wheel was cracked and they paid me 1 to keep the cart in the yard.
Sixth of Deepsnow: the men sat by the fire and talked of a tower to be built here, the last one, the northmost. I said it is a long way to carry stone. They said the whole road will help. They paid 2 for beds and 1 for bread and cheese.
Seventh of Deepsnow: the men went on with the cart, mended wheel and all. They paid 1 for the fixing and left a nail behind. I will keep the nail.
Eighth of Deepsnow: I mended nets in the morning. 2 for the nets, from the boat house.
Ninth of Deepsnow: the snow stopped. Nothing came.
Tenth of Deepsnow: nothing came. I fed the fire and counted the emeralds. 27 in the box under the board.
%%
Ledger: Pike farm, the night of the lamp
Nell Pike, outside Vell. Melon, the 21st and 22nd.
The 21st. Sold 120 eggs and 2 cheeses. Got 13. Bought wax cloth, 3 lengths. Paid 6. Everyone wants wax cloth. I do not know what for. I bought some too, in case.
The 21st, night. I was on the back step with a cup of milk. From our step I can see the Vell tower lamp, a small yellow star. In the middle of the night it stopped its usual passes. It began to blink one pattern. Long, long, short. Long, long, short. Over and over, for the time it takes to boil an egg. Then it stopped, and the usual passes began again, as if nothing had happened.
The 22nd. I asked at the market. The baker says it was a loose shutter. A carter says it was a child at the lever. The woman at the cheese stall says it was a message for someone who could read it.
I asked her who. She did not know.
I have written the pattern in the margin of this book, in case anyone wants it: long, long, short.
The hens laid well. The cat sat by the back door all day and looked at the tower.
%%
Song contest: the drill yard, Vell
By Nessa, tutor at Vell, with the count from the judges, in the autumn of 196.

Every Leaffall the tutors' house holds a song contest in the drill yard, because the yard is flat and the torches are already there. The apprentices stand in their row at the back. They do not sing. They listen, which is the best thing we have taught them.

The judges were Oren the clerk, who is careful; the baker's girl, who is loud; and a miner from Copperhold called Hesk, who came up the hill and said he had never judged anything before and would do his best.

The songs:
The Windmill Song, sung by Sefa's boy. It goes round and round and has one line about a squeak. The yard sang the squeak. Second place.
The Keeper's Lamp, sung by a girl from Northpoint who came south with the letters. It is slow and quiet. It has ninety steps in it, one for each rung. First place.
The Beetroot Song, sung by two farmers from Kettle Ridge who could not agree on the tune. They sang it in rounds by accident. Third place.
The Long Road, sung by Pell, who is a merchant and should know better. He forgot the words and made up new ones about the price of hay. The yard laughed. He did not win, and he did not mind.
A song by the baker's girl with no name, about the smell of bread in the morning. The judges could not agree on it. Hesk said it made him hungry, and that was enough.

The apprentices listened to all of it. One of them, a small one with a dent in its copper shoulder, turned its head to follow the slow song the way it follows a torch. I wrote that down in my notes. It means nothing, I think. I wrote it down anyway.

Prizes: a jar of honey, a sack of flour and a new card for the crystal tray, all from the house. Cost 6 emeralds. The yard was swept. The torches were lit. Nobody broke anything.

Nessa
%%
Note: the boat late home
Put on the door of the boat house at Lowmarsh, second of Sowing.
To the family of the boat that went out at dawn and is not back:
The wind turned at noon. It will have turned back by dark. Keep the lamp lit on the end of the pier and leave the fire in the boat house. We will watch the water.
Wren says come to the healing house and sit by the fire. She has soup. She says waiting is colder than fishing.
The other boats are back. They saw nothing. They say the fog came down fast and it was grey, and they did not like the look of it.
If the boat is not in by morning we will send word up the road and along the coast.
%%
Pell, the ledger and the broken lamp
Spring, at the inn a day's walk south of Vell, on the Long Road. Pell, merchant, writes the accounts while the innkeeper sleeps.

Sowing, first. Beds let: 4. 8 emeralds. Meals: 11. 11. Cider: 6 jugs. 6. Taken in: 25.
Sowing, second. The relay lamp at the waymark tower, a short walk up the road, would not light. The keeper came down for oil. He said the glass had cracked in the frost and the flame would not hold. He bought a pane from the inn's spare, 3 emeralds. I wrote it down.
Sowing, third. The lamp was lit by noon. Messages flowed again. The keeper stayed for supper. Meals: 12. Beds: 3.
Sowing, fourth. Quiet. A peddler with ribbons. Bought a yard for my niece: 1.
Sowing, fifth. A letter came for me by cart. My sister says her second child was born three days ago, a boy. I sent back a word on the lamp: "Joy." It cost me one emerald. I would pay ten.
Taken in: 61. Spent: 23. Left: 38.
%%
School essay: Bel of Three Wells
An essay by Bel, age nine, for the school by the east well. The teacher asked us to write about a place we have been. Summer, the 206th year of the archive.
The Halfway Inn
The Halfway Inn is one day's walk from Three Wells, on the Long Road, where the road crosses the brook. My father took me there in Melon to buy a horse. The innkeeper is called Quill and he sits up all night and keeps the fire. He says the fire has not gone out in thirty years. I asked how he knows and he said he counts.
The inn has twelve beds. There is a board by the fire with riddles on it. The riddle was about a fox and a hen and a sack of wheat and a boat. I solved it. Quill said I was the first this summer and gave me a cup of honey and water. Pell the merchant was there and he had not solved it and he was cross but kind about it.
On the second night a zombie came to the gate. It was dark and I was meant to be asleep. I heard the latch rattle. Quill put more torches on the posts and it went away. In the morning we saw its marks in the mud by the brook. I was not scared. I was a little scared. Quill said keep the torches lit and I will.
The best thing was the soup. It had carrots and potatoes and bread on the side. Quill would not tell me the recipe. He said it is a secret and the secret is patience. I think the secret is also salt.
There was a family there with a new baby. The baby was called Nella and she is the carter's girl and she cried a lot and then she stopped. Her father said she will have a pony when she is six. I hope she does.
I would like to go back to the Halfway Inn. I would like to sit by the fire and solve the next riddle. I would like to be the one who keeps the fire, but Quill says I am too young and also the fire is his.
By Bel.
%%
Letter: Abel to his sister
Abel the glassblower writes to his sister, who lives at Three Wells.
Dear sister,
Spring is here. The frogs are loud and the water is high. My stall is dry, which is more than some can say.
I sold eleven jars last market day. Wren took three. A traveler on the Long Road took two and said my glass was too fine for a cart. I said the cart is the problem.
The new copper vein at Copperhold means more bottles for the miners. Hesk wrote to me. He says Clank carries the buckets. I say a good apprentice is worth a good cart.
Cook the beetroot with honey, as mother did. Do not open the sluice on the mill pond. You know why.
Your brother,
Abel
%%
Northpoint log
Kept at the foot of the northmost tower, in the keeper's house, by the keeper's hand. The first winter the lamp was lit.
First of Deepsnow: lamp lit at dusk. Clear. The north is very dark.
Third of Deepsnow: snow all day. Lantern lit the stair lamps and counted the rungs on the way up. Ninety. She counts them every time and always gets ninety.
Fifth of Deepsnow: a visiting tutor came up with books. The children were glad. She stayed two nights and read to them by the fire and told them about the sorting crystal and how it learned to sort apples from pears, and a boy said his mother sorts better, and she said perhaps.
Seventh of Deepsnow: the cart stuck at the third bridge and came off it with boards. I wrote it down. Dell wrote it down too. Two accounts is better than one.
Ninth of Deepsnow: no one came. The wind took the path. I kept the lamp lit and mended the shutter.
Tenth of Deepsnow: Lantern says the light from the tower goes a long way in the snow. I said that is the point of it.
Twelfth of Deepsnow: long night. I thought of the south, where the archive is, and the clerks copying by lamplight. I hope they are warm. I hope they have tea.
Fifteenth of Deepsnow: the road wardens came up and left little stones on the waymarks on their way down. I do not know why. I am glad of it.
%%
Pell, accounts at the Halfway Inn
Spring, the Halfway Inn on the Long Road. Pell passed through and stayed three nights. He kept the account of what he spent and what he heard.

First night.
Bed, one night: 2 emeralds. Supper: stew and bread, 1. Riddle board: tried one riddle, wrong, paid a cup of cider, 1. Hearth fee: none. The hearth has not gone out in twenty years.
Total: 4.

Second night.
Bed: 2. Supper: 1. Breakfast, porridge and honey: 1. Stabling for the horse: 1. Lamp oil for my room: 1. Talk with the innkeeper, free. She says her cousin at Three Wells has had a baby, and the relay lamp was broken the same night, so the news came by cart three days late.
Total: 6.

Third night.
Bed: 2. Supper: 1. Cider, a jug to share with a drover: 1. The drover bought a round. I repaid: 1.
Total: 5.

Sum of three nights: 15 emeralds. My purse was 40. It is now 25.

I will say it plain: the Halfway Inn is the best inn on the road. It is clean and warm and honest, and its hearth is a wonder. If I could, I would live here, and keep the books, and sleep by the fire.

Note for next visit: the riddle was "What has a mouth but never speaks, a bed but never sleeps?" I wrote "a river." It was right. I was told it afterward, which is a joke on the innkeeper's side.
%%
Pell, a week of accounts, a birth
Spring, at the Brown Hen and then at the next inn up the Long Road. Pell kept this ledger over seven days, and wrote some talk between the sums.

Day one, Brown Hen. Taken in: 22. Spent: 8. A quiet night. A cart of turnips came by. I bought a sack: 3.

Day two, Brown Hen. The relay lamp on the tower by the waymark went dark at dusk. I walked up to see. The keeper was on the stair with a torch, in a state. He said a pane had cracked and the oil had spilled. I held the torch while he worked. We got the lamp relit by midnight. He offered me an emerald. I said no. He gave me a cup of tea, and I gave him a joke. We were square. Taken in: 18. Spent: 6.

Day three, Brown Hen. The messages came in again, a flood of them. One was for me. It said: "Pell, your niece is born. She is called Pell." I laughed so hard that the cook came out of the kitchen. I wrote down: Joy, 0 emeralds, priceless. Taken in: 20. Spent: 5.

Day four, on the road. I set out at dawn with my cart. Torches on posts every twelve blocks. The road is dry. By noon I reached the waymark with a 5 on it. I put a little stone on top. Spent: bread and cheese, 2.

Day five, at the next inn. Bed: 2. Supper: 2. Stabling: 1. The innkeeper told me of a baby born the week before, to a family of the inn. A girl, called Dawn. I gave 2 emeralds for her first cap. Taken in at market: 34. Spent: 14.

Day six, the road. Rain. I stayed under the cart for two hours, eating a pie. Spent: 3.

Day seven, Ambrook. I arrived at dusk. My sister met me at the gate with the baby on her arm. She said, "Say hello to your namesake." The baby looked at me. She did not smile. I did not mind. She has a good grip.

Sum of the week. Taken in: 94. Spent: 35. Left: 59. And one niece.

I wrote it all down so I would know it was real.
%%
Letter: a visiting tutor to the Archive
To Oren, clerk at the Archive at Vell, from the tutor who went north.
I came up the north road in winter with a box of books and one mind in a crystal, and the road was good. There is a torch every twelve blocks and a waymark with a stone on top, and an inn where a woman named Dell mends nets and keeps the accounts and does not lose her temper with a stuck cart.
I taught the children at the tower by lamplight. There are eleven of them. They learn fast. The tower is not finished but the foot is up, and the keeper's house has a roof, and the children drew the tower on a board for me to take home.
The keeper is not yet chosen. There is a girl here named Lantern who lights every lamp in the hamlet and does it well and in the same order every night. I have written her name down. I do not choose keepers. I only say what I saw.
The inn has one bed left and I have taken it. Dell says the box under the board holds 27 emeralds, which is a record, and she will spend some on boots.
Send more books when the road is clear. The children have read all of these.
Your friend, the tutor
%%
Ledger: Hebb farm, Swarm
Kept by Lise. Emeralds. Short month. Poor harvest is coming.
Swarm, 2nd. Pasture gone yellow on the top field. The sheep are thin. Bought hay from the Copperhold carts, 12 bundles, 24 emeralds. The carter said the hay was dear. I said the grass was dear too.
Swarm, 4th. The wheat in the low field has stopped growing. The ears are very short. Nobody can say why. The tower keeper says the rain came too early and then too late. Nothing to be done but wait.
Swarm, 8th. Sold 1 sheep, 4 emeralds, to pay the hay. Cried in the barn after, which I will not write again.
Swarm, 9th. Helper carried the water to the top field twice. It did not stop once. The helper does not know the field is dry. It only knows where the bucket goes. I think that is the kinder ignorance.
Swarm, 12th. Bought salt, 1 emerald. Bought nothing else. Sold nothing. The mine gate is busy.
Swarm, 14th. Paid the tower keeper's boy for carrying a message to Vell about the seed loan, 1 emerald. The message says we will need the loan in Longday. Asked the tutor for a helper to dig the drains. The tutor says he will send one in spring.
Swarm, 18th. Cheese sold, 3 wheels, 6 emeralds. The cook from the mine kitchen bought them all, and paid in advance, and said he was sorry about the harvest. He is a good man. He is also a cook, and he knows what a poor harvest does to a kitchen.
Swarm, 22nd. Potatoes dug. Small. Eighty small ones from one row. Put them in the cellar. Counted them three times.
Swarm, 26th. Bought flour from the Ambrook carts, 4 sacks, 20 emeralds. The carter laughed when I paid. He said Ambrook is short too, and he is not laughing at me, only at the year.
Swarm, 30th. End of month. Money in: 52 emeralds. Money out: 81 emeralds. The difference is the seed loan, the hay and the flour. The loan is to be paid back in Harvest.
%%
Bel's honey stall, Longday
Ledger kept by Bel, age ten, at the honey stall by the south well, Three Wells. Dad sells the jars. Bel keeps the sums. Emeralds.
Longday, first day. Sold 6 jars at 2 each. Got 12. Dad says the south well is busy because the wagons are waiting for the new road.
Longday, second day. Sold 4 jars. A man from the north road bought 2 and asked for the dark honey. We have one jar of it. Dad said give it to him anyway.
Longday, fourth day. Rain. Nobody came to the well but the frogs. Got 0. The frogs did not pay.
%%
Bel's Account by the Road, Melon 204
Our house stands at the edge of Three Wells, where the east road leaves the square. Mother lets travelers buy food from the front room. She says this is not a shop. I say it has a price board.
First day. Sold bread and carrots, 5 emeralds. Bought flour, 2 emeralds. A cart wheel stopped by the door. Father helped lift it.
Second day. Sold honey, 4 emeralds. Bought clay bowls, 2 emeralds. One bowl has a dent. Mother says it will hold soup.
Third day. Sold apples, 3 emeralds. Bought wool, 2 emeralds. I wanted the yellow one, but there was no yellow wool.
Fourth day. Sold beetroot, 2 emeralds. Bought coal, 1 emerald. Father says the stove is hungry.
Fifth day. Sold bread, 2 emeralds. No buying. A traveler paid with 3 emeralds, then asked for one back. Mother found his mistake.
The box has 7 emeralds left from the first day, and 5 from the week. I may have mixed them. Mother says money does not mind.
%%
Northpoint boat shed accounts
Dunn's shed book. All sums in emeralds. Spring, 176.

Thaw 2. Sold two small boats to the fishers. Received 18. Bought spruce boards from the south cart. Paid 6. Bought iron nails. Paid 2. Bought bread and potatoes for the work bench. Paid 1. Balance 9.

Thaw 3. Repaired the boat house door. No charge. It was my door, and it had struck me twice. Sold a pair of oars to Tavi. Received 2. Bought wool for the seat covers. Paid 1. Balance 10.

Thaw 4. Sold one fishing boat. Received 9. Paid 3 for spruce boards. Paid 1 for coal at the keeper's house. The keeper says the stair lamps eat more coal in winter. I said they do not eat it. They only burn it. She said that is what eating means for coal. Balance 15.

Thaw 5. Bought carrots, bread and milk. Paid 1. Bought copper hooks. Paid 1. Sold a cracked boat for parts. Received 2. The crack was not my fault. The buyer says it was the sea's fault. I have written both claims here. Balance 15.

Sowing 1. Sold two boats. Received 18. Paid 7 for boards and iron. Bought apples for the bench. Paid 1. Balance 25. The apples were for the workers. I ate one to test it. The test was good.

Sowing 2. Sold oars. Received 3. Paid 1 for wool. Paid 1 for bread. Balance 26. Tavi brought the oars back because one was longer. He had kept the long one.

Sowing 3. No sale. Paid 1 for coal. Balance 25. The roof held in the rain. The door still has its opinion about me.

Dunn
%%
Ledger: Cal's forge
Kept by Cal, smith. Emeralds. The stock taken and the sums owed. Written at the end of Blossom, before the Longday fair.
In hand: iron, 9 ingots. Copper, 2 ingots. Coal, 4 sacks. Honey, 3 jars, one for the apprentice's joints. Tin, 6 sheets. Leather, 1 roll. Tools finished and waiting: 4 shovels, 2 spades, 1 scythe, 6 nails by the hundred.
Owed to the forge:
Hollow Brook farm, 4 emeralds, for the weld, not yet paid.
The mine kitchen, 8 emeralds, for the pans, which have not come back.
Three Wells school, nothing. The play was paid in a pie. The schoolmistress says the pie was the best she has ever made. I do not doubt her.
The tanner, 2 emeralds, for the leather he will not give back until I pay for the last roll. We are in a circle of leather.
Owed by the forge:
The iron cart from the mine gate, 12 emeralds, for the ingots.
The coal carter, 6 emeralds, for the sacks.
The boy who carries buckets, 1 emerald and a bun, which he has asked for again.
The apprentice, nothing. It owes nothing to anyone. It is not paid, but it does not ask.
Net: the forge is owed 6 emeralds and owes 19. Not good. Not terrible. Cal will be at the fair on Longday, where the best smiths sell the things they have made and the best cooks sell the things they have eaten, and Cal intends to do both.
%%
Pell, accounts at the Brown Hen
Spring, the first week of Sowing.
Two beds, three nights: 6 emeralds.
Soup and bread for nine: 4.
A jug of cider for the carter: 1.
Bought: lamp oil, 3. Candles for the front room, 2.
Mended: the stable door, by Garth, 2.
Taken in: 17. Spent: 9. Left: 8. A fair week, and the roads are dry.
%%
Accounts: Lise at the boardwalk house
Lowmarsh, third of Longday, 174.

Fish sold, 4 emeralds.
Reeds sold, 2 emeralds.
One jar of honey, 3 emeralds.
Needles and thread, 1 emerald.
Bread, 2 emeralds.
Total in: 12 emeralds.

Wren came for a clean cloth. No charge.
I bought a new pot. 5 emeralds.
I paid the baker 2 emeralds.
Left in the box: 5 emeralds.

The frog sat by the door all morning. It did not pay rent.
Lise
%%
Bel's accounts, a summer of jars
Written by Bel, at the stall, with the candle in the honey jar, because the lamp was too far.
Longday, eleventh day. Sold 8 jars. Got 16. The big carts from the north went by this morning, and the drivers did not buy anything. They looked at the south well instead. Dad said they were thirsty. They did not drink.
Longday, fourteenth day. Sold 6 jars. Got 12. Paid the toll for the carts from the stall, 4. The toll is a lot when you count it by the jar.
Swarm, fifth day. Sold 9 jars. Got 18. A boy asked whether the honey was from the same bees as the north. Dad said all the bees are from the same bees. The boy thought about this for a long time.
Swarm, ninth day. Sold 3 jars. Got 6. Rain on the road. The new bridge held. The old bridge is still standing, and nobody has pulled it down, so there are two bridges and one river.
Swarm, twelfth day. Sold 8 jars. Got 16. A keeper from the little relay bought four jars for the tower. He said the lamp is very bright this summer, and the glass is clean, and the keeper sleeps in the lamp room because it is warm. I wrote down all of it.
Melon, third day. Sold 10 jars. Got 20. The carts on the new road are longer than they were. They carry more. The carters look tired and cheerful, the way Dad looks after a good fair.
Melon, sixth day. Sold 5 jars. Got 10. A woman from Saltreach asked whether there was honey in the new towns. Dad said there are bees everywhere. She said she meant honey people, and Dad did not know what she meant, so he gave her a jar.
Melon, ninth day. Sold 7 jars. Got 14. The stall is quiet in the afternoons now. The square is quiet too. The wells are full, and the wall is mended, and the south well has a new board on it that says the water is clean.
Melon, twelfth day. Sold 9 jars. Got 18. Paid the toll, 2. Paid Ned, 1. Paid the wall, 1. Saved 14 emeralds in the tin, for the winter, and for the jar we keep for ourselves.
Melon, fifteenth day. Sold 4 jars. Got 8. Dad says the summer is almost done. I said it is only Melon. He said that is what he meant.
%%
The stuck cart, a winter account
Written down by Dell, who saw it, for the road wardens.
The cart came down from the north with a load of stone for the tower. It went into the drift by the third bridge and stopped, and the horse would not pull, and the men stood in the snow and looked at it.
A visiting tutor was at the inn that night. She had come up the road with a box of books and a mind in a crystal, to teach the children their letters by the tower. She walked down to the bridge with her boots unlaced and looked at the cart a long while.
Then she said to the men: do not pull harder. Pull less, and put a board under the wheel, and the board under the next wheel, and go slow. The men said they had been pulling hard since noon. She said that is why the horse is tired.
They put two boards down and the cart came off the drift in the time it took me to light a torch. The tutor would not take an emerald. She said, give it to the horse.
The men stayed the night and paid 4. The tutor paid 1 for her bed and 1 for her supper. In the morning she went up to the tower with her box of books and the children ran out to meet her.
%%
Bel's accounts, Swarm, the road
Written by Bel, at the stall. Dad says the road is the most important thing in the town this year. I say the honey is. We both say the sums are.
Swarm, first day. Sold 8 jars. Got 16. The road crew came by at noon and bought four, and said the road is nearly to the bridge. They were very dusty. Dad gave them an extra jar for the dust.
Swarm, third day. The new road is finished at the bridge. The toll post is up, with a board that says 2 for each cart. Dad says that is fair. The carters say it is not fair, but they pay it.
Swarm, fourth day. Sold 6 jars. Got 12. A family went past on the new road with two carts and a cow walking behind. They did not stop. The mother looked at the honey and then at the road. Dad said they were going to Saltreach. He did not say how he knew.
Swarm, sixth day. Sold 9 jars. Got 18. A carter from Saltreach came by for water and said the big ships are on the slip again. He said it as if it were the weather. Dad thanked him for the news and gave him a jar.
%%
Ledger: a week of autumn at the Stile
Kept by Cleo, miner, who took over the accounts of the Stile Inn when the owner broke his leg. The hamlet of Stile lies near Kettle Ridge. Autumn. Written day by day, with notes. In emeralds.

Day one.
In: beds 5, supper 8, beer 15. Total 28.
Out: flour 3, oil 1, a new boot for the innkeeper's good leg, 2. Total 6.
Note: the innkeeper is on a chair by the fire. He tells everyone what to do.

Day two.
In: beds 4, supper 6, beer 12. Total 22.
Out: bread 3, a sack of oats 4. Total 7.
Note: the weather is mild. Harvest is in. The hamlet is sleepy.

Day three.
In: beds 9, supper 14, beer 22. Total 45.
Out: bread 6, candles 2, a cheese 5. Total 13.
Note: a cave has been found under Brannock's field. A hole opened while he was ploughing. The ox fell in, and was pulled out with ropes. The ox is well. The field is not.

Day four.
In: beds 14, supper 28, beer 40. Total 82.
Out: ropes 6, lanterns 8, soup for the diggers 10. Total 24.
Note: half of Kettle Ridge is here. They want to see the hole. Brannock has put a rope round it and sells a look for one emerald.

Day five.
In: beds 12, supper 22, beer 38, look tickets, which the inn shares with Brannock, 12. Total 84.
Out: bread 10, ale 10, lamp oil 4. Total 24.
Note: Cleo went down. It is a real cave, large and dry. A thin line of copper in the wall. Not much, but a line.

Day six.
In: beds 9, supper 16, beer 25. Total 50.
Out: new rope 4, a better ladder 6, a barrel 5. Total 15.
Note: the song contest was held in the yard. Mina won with a song about her dog.

Day seven.
In: beds 7, supper 12, beer 18. Total 37.
Out: flour 4, a sack of potatoes 3, a pig's head, for stew, 3. Total 10.
Note: the crowds are thinner. The hamlet is quiet. Brannock has put a gate on the hole.

Week: in 348, out 99. Kept: 249.

A last note. The innkeeper reads this and says I have been too generous with the ropes. I say the ropes were needed. He says: then charge Brannock. I say: Brannock is your cousin. He says: then charge my cousin double.
%%
Ledger: Finch
Finch, glassblower, at the farm outside Saltreach. The ledger of the winter of 189, when the harbor froze at the edges and nobody bought anything but lamp glass.
Day 1. Lamp glass, 10. Sold at 2 each. Got 20. Paid 3 for sand, 2 for wood.
Day 2. Lamp glass, 12. Sold 11 at 2. Got 22. One cracked.
Day 3. The cat went out at dusk and did not come back. Paid nothing. Looked until dark.
Day 4. Cat back. Wet, cross, and fed. Lamp glass, 8. Got 16.
Day 5. Snow. No customers. Made 6 more lamps for stock. Wood 2.
Day 6. Cat out. Cat in. Cat out. Cat in. Paid nothing. Lost patience.
Day 7. The quay ordered 20 lamp glasses for the winter, because the harbor lamps are failing. Got 20 in advance. Said I would have them in a week.
Day 8 to day 14. Made 20. Wood 14, sand 5, coal 6.
Day 15. Delivered 20 to the quay. Got 40, which is the rest.
Day 16. A woman asked after a lost dog. Brown, small, a white ear. I had not seen it. I said so. She cried. I said I would look. Paid nothing.
Day 17. Found the dog under the glass house, in the warm. Brought it home to her. Got a pie. Pie 2.
Day 18. Cat out. I am no longer worried.
Totals. In 120, out 37. Left 83, a pie and a cat who is not ashamed.
%%
Ledger, the Saltreach boat
Rowan's accounts for Deepsnow. Fish bought in advance from the boat Marrow, out of Saltreach, paid in full by the bag.

Second of Deepsnow. Paid Mora at the carter's post for twelve weeks of fish: 20. She said the boat would be here by the eighth.

Fifth of Deepsnow. No boat. The Long Road cart came in with no news, except that the carter had seen no sails past the second waymark.

Seventh of Deepsnow. No boat. The waymark man says there were lights over the north water two nights ago, green and then white. He says they did not move the way a boat moves.

Eighth of Deepsnow. Still no boat. Paid the cart 10 more, for news. He says families are loading carts at the harbor wall. He does not know if it is true. Rumors are rumors, and he said so.

Eleventh of Deepsnow. Marrow came up the road on a cart, not by sea. Her hold was empty and her mast was tied down with rope. Two men were with her. They said they had come ashore at the first bell and had waited at an inn since. Nobody could say which inn.

The fish, three bags, paid in full. Nothing to refund. The men did not want supper.
%%
Ledger: hay for the winter, Apple
Ledger of Rye, the farm by the stream bridge. Apple, the hay month. All sums in emeralds.
Day 1. Bought 40 bales of hay from the top field, at 1 each. Paid 40. The barn is half full.
Day 2. Hay carted in from Kettle Ridge, 20 bales. Paid the carter 3, and two jars of honey. Honey not counted.
Day 3. Wheat straw for the pig pen, 10 bundles, 2.
Day 4. The red cow ate the hay she was not meant to eat. Patched the barn door. Nails, 1.
Day 5. Total spent on the winter so far: 67. The winter has not started. Writing it down anyway.
%%
Bel's House Account, Longday 205
Our house stands at the edge of Three Wells, where the road turns from the square toward the farms. There is a bench outside and a low table in the front room. Mother sells food there to travelers and neighbors. The door has a wooden latch that Father keeps saying he will mend.
I keep the account in a book with a blue cover. The old map is under the book so the table does not rock. It shows the road and the wells, but not our house. I drew our house beside the east road. Father says the drawing looks like a loaf with a chimney. I think that is because I drew it after supper.
First day. Sold bread for 3 emeralds, carrots for 2, and honey for 4. Bought flour for 2 emeralds and coal for 1. A traveler asked if the honey came from the hives at Ambrook. Mother said yes. He bought a second jar.
Second day. Sold apples for 5 emeralds and potatoes for 3. Bought a basket for 2 emeralds. The basket has a loose handle. Father says it is not loose. It moved when I lifted it.
Third day. Sold beetroot for 4 emeralds. Sold two loaves for 2. Bought wool for 3 emeralds. Mother says the wool is for the bench. I asked if the bench will be warm. She said the bench is not the one who gets cold.
Fourth day. Sold honey for 3 emeralds and carrots for 2. Bought a clay pot for 2 emeralds. Father put the pot by the door, then walked into it. The pot broke. He says it was a poor place for a pot. Mother says it was a poor place for a foot.
Fifth day. Sold apples for 4 emeralds. No buying. A cart stopped at our door while its owner asked directions. The old map showed the road clearly. I pointed to the Three Wells square. He had been facing the other way.
Sixth day. Sold bread for 3 emeralds and beetroot for 2. Bought flour for 2 emeralds. Mother gave me one warm loaf for helping. I put it on the account table and Father nearly counted it as stock.
Seventh day. Sold nothing. We ate the last apples. Mother says eating food is not a loss. I say it is a loss to the account.
The box began with 11 emeralds. We took in 39 and spent 12. The box now has 38. I counted them once. Mother counted twice. Father was asked not to count while holding an emerald.
%%
Sella's Northpoint inn book, spring 197
Kept by Sella, with Dunn's boat shed entries at the foot. All sums in emeralds.

Thaw 2. Two travelers slept in the upper room. Received 4. Sold bread, stew and milk. Received 3. Bought wheat, potatoes and carrots. Paid 2. Bought coal. Paid 1. Balance 4.

Thaw 3. One traveler slept in the lower room. Received 2. Sold two bowls of stew. Received 2. Bought eggs and apples. Paid 1. Balance 7. The traveler asked for a dry bed. I gave him the dry bed. He asked for a dry pillow too. I gave him a towel.

Thaw 4. Sold bread and honey. Received 2. Paid 1 for milk and 1 for coal. Balance 7. Dunn came in to warm his hands. He had been holding a wet board and said it was the board's fault.

Thaw 5. Received 6 for three beds. Sold stew and bread for 4. Paid 2 for wheat, beetroot and potatoes. Balance 15.

Sowing 1. Sold four meals. Received 4. Paid 1 for eggs and 1 for milk. Dunn bought a sack of coal for 2. He says it is for his shed. I wrote it under the shed, not the inn. Balance 15.

Sowing 2. Sold bread and stew. Received 5. Paid 2 for potatoes and carrots. One bowl went to the relay keeper. No charge. She has to climb ninety rungs and I do not.

Sowing 3. Received 8 for four beds. Bought wheat, apples and honey for 3. Paid 1 for coal. Balance 22. One guest left his hat. Dunn says it is a good hat. He has worn it twice while looking for its owner.

Blossom 1. Sold three meals and two nights of lodging. Received 9. Paid 2 for milk, eggs and bread. Balance 29.

Dunn's shed, Blossom 1. Sold a boat for 10. Bought boards and nails for 5. Paid Rill 1 to help. Balance 4. Dunn says Rill helped with the boat, not the books. Rill says she helped with both.

Blossom 2. Four travelers ate supper. Received 4. Paid 1 for potatoes. The rain came hard. Three boots were left by the hearth. Two came back for their boots. The third guest returned with one boot and a story. I have not charged for the story.
%%
Ledger: the song contest at the Stile
Kept by Cleo, miner, in the hamlet of Stile near Kettle Ridge. Autumn. The hamlet's song contest was held in the yard of the inn, the week the cave was found under Brannock's field. In emeralds.

IN
Entry fees, 14 singers at 1 each: 14
Beer, 62 mugs: 62
Supper, 30: 30
Cake, sold in slices: 12
Beds, 9: 9
Cave-looking tickets, which Brannock asked us to sell for him: 18
Total in: 145.

OUT
Prize, a copper kettle, bought at Copperhold: 12
Ribbon, red, one: 1
Judges' supper, three: 4
Bread: 8
Barrel of beer: 15
Tallow for the lamps in the yard: 3
Cave rope, which Cleo took: 4
Brannock's share of the tickets: 18
Total out: 65.

Kept: 80.

Notes. The prize went to Mina, a shepherd, who sang a song about her dog. Second was the miller, who sang a song about his wife. Third was a boy who sang a song about his cat. The judges, who were the three oldest people in the hamlet, said they could not decide, so they ate the cake and gave the kettle to the dog.
%%
Ledger: Corin, the road to Vell
Kept by Corin of Saltreach on a short journey to the Archive, to see the old boat drawings. Summer. All sums in emeralds. The yard is left to Young Ned and Kit for ten days. That is a risk I have taken.
Day 1. Saltreach to Lowmarsh. Bread and fish for the road, 2. Bed at the inn, 1.
Day 2. Over the ferry, 2. The marsh road to the junction. I walked beside a cart of chairs most of the day. I asked where they were going. The carter said, "The coast." I said I live on the coast. He said, "Then you will know where to put them."
Day 3. The inn at the crooked oak. Bed and soup, 3. A drover told the room that the Deep Works hum at night. A woman said it was the wind in the shaft. A man said it was the miners singing. By the second bowl they had three causes and no cure.
Day 4. Vell, at dusk. A bed in the barn at the Pike farm outside the town, 1. Nell Pike took half what she asked, because I build boats.
Day 5. The Archive. The clerks showed me the old boat drawings. Twenty sheets, brown at the edges. A long boat with a curved neck, and a sail like a hand. Oren gave me tea and counted the sheets before and after. Nell lent me her mare to carry the roll down the hill. I paid the mare 1, in apples.
Day 6. From the barn door at night I saw the Vell tower lamp blink. Not its usual passes. One pattern, over and over. Long, long, short. For the time it takes to boil an egg. Then it stopped. Nell says a loose shutter. The carter I met on the road says a child. I say a lamp.
Day 7. Back on the road. A seat on the cart, 3. Rain.
Day 11. Saltreach. Young Ned had not burned the yard. Kit had counted the nails. The harbor hall wants the next ship by autumn.
Spent: 13. Got: nothing. Drawings: one roll. Questions: more than before.
%%
Ledger: Finch, glass for the farm
Account of Finch, glassblower, who sells windows to the farms outside Saltreach. Winter of 191. All sums in emeralds.
Day 1. Sold 4 panes to the farm on the slope. Got 8. Paid 1 for sand.
Day 2. Sold a green bottle to the cook at the inn. Got 2. The cat sat in the kiln. Paid nothing. Said sorry.
Day 3. Broke 3 panes carrying them. Got 0. Lost 6. Said a word.
Day 4. Sold a lamp glass to the quay. Got 3. A cat on the roof, not mine. Brought it a fish. It left.
Day 5. Paid 2 for coal. Sold 2 bowls. Got 4.
Day 6. Cat gone from the house. Looked in the shed and the kiln. Found it on the roof of the barn. Paid nothing. Cost a ladder.
Total. In 11, out 5. Left 6, and a cat.
%%
House Account, Reaping 206
Written by Bel, with Mother's numbers checked afterward.
The house at the east edge of Three Wells sold food by the front door this week. The notice board at the square had many visitors, so we kept the bread covered from dust.
First day. Bread, 3 emeralds. Carrots, 2 emeralds. Flour, 2 emeralds. The flour sack was tied well this time.
Second day. Honey, 4 emeralds. Apples, 3 emeralds. Bought a new basket for 2 emeralds. Father says the handle is strong. I say it is strong if nobody pulls it sideways.
Third day. Beetroot, 3 emeralds. Potatoes, 2 emeralds. Bought coal, 1 emerald. Mother put the coal beside the stove and told me not to count it as food.
Fourth day. No sales before noon. Then a family came from Kettle Ridge and bought bread, honey, and two carrots. Total, 5 emeralds. We bought wool for 3 emeralds.
Fifth day. Apples, 4 emeralds. A traveler gave us 5 emeralds and forgot his change. Mother ran to the road and returned 1 emerald. He thanked her and gave me an apple.
Sixth day. Bread, 2 emeralds. Carrots, 2 emeralds. No buying. Father repaired the latch with a piece of iron. The door shuts without lifting now.
Seventh day. No sales. We ate the last loaf ourselves.
Mother says the week brought 30 emeralds and cost 10. I got 20. I counted 19, then found one under the bread board. Mother says the board is not a bank.
%%
Accounts of Pell
Pell's ledger, the pages for Melon of the 191st year. I write the inn's charges here and my own trades beside them, so I can see where the emeralds went.
Second of Melon: bed, one. Ale, two cups. Supper, one. Total three.
Third: bed, one. Hay for the horse, one. I sold the innkeeper six jars of Ambrook honey at four each and he paid at once. Good man. Honey from Ambrook is worth the walk.
Fourth: no bed. I slept under the cart by the brook because the inn was full. Fine night. The frogs were loud.
Fifth: bed, one. I bought two crates of glass bottles from a carter bound for Lowmarsh. Wren pays well for bottles. I paid nine for the pair and mean to ask twelve. Do not tell Wren.
Sixth: bed, one. Ale, four cups, because the riddle board beat me and I needed company. The riddle was about a fox and three hens. I still do not have the answer.
Seventh: bed, two, for me and the boy who minds the cart. He is eleven and eats like a wolf. Supper, two.
Eighth: toll at the bridge, none, the bridge is ours to use. Good.
Ninth: sold the last of the honey, five jars at four. Bought wool, three bales, at six each. The wool is good and dry.
Tenth: rain all day. Bed, one. Ale, six cups, shared with a shepherd who told me the price of wool in Kettle Ridge and was wrong, kindly.
Sum of the stay: paid the inn nine emeralds and a half. Earned on honey and wool, thirty one. A good week on the road.
Note to self: the innkeeper's soup is better than the Brown Hen's. Do not tell the Brown Hen.
Pell.
%%
Wren's book: Longday at Reedend
Kept by Wren, healer of Lowmarsh. Summer of 206. All sums in emeralds. Moss carries the bag, the lantern, and my opinions.

First of Longday. Walked out to Reedend with Moss. The well has run dry. They fetch water from Lowmarsh in barrels and guard it like honey. Told the whole hamlet not to drink the marsh water, however clear it looks. Said it to forty people. Paid nothing. Nobody listened.

Third. Teasel, a bad stomach. She drank the marsh water "just a sip". Boiled water and dried kelp broth. Paid 1.
Third. The Marl twins, the same. They say they drank none. They say the frogs did. Paid nothing.
Fourth. Old Dunn, sore feet, as ever. Socks. Paid 1 and a long talk about his feet.
Sixth. Fen, a bad back from the digging. Salve, and a rule: sit down after every third shovel. He says he will. Paid 2.
Seventh. Hands at the new well: five blisters, two splinters, one thumb. Honey and a clean cloth. Paid 3 among them.

Fourteenth. Noll put his arm through the floor of the hole and found a room under the north field. A healer's book is no place for caves. I write it here because it is the best thing to happen to Reedend since the old sorter.
Fifteenth. Went down the ladder with Teasel, Fen and Noll. A cave, cold and dry, with a pool at the back. Tasted the water. Clean. Moss held the lantern at the foot of the ladder and did not move for an hour. It looked at the dripping walls the whole time. I do not know what it was learning. I left it there until supper.
Fifteenth. Bought a lantern for my own use, 2. I mean to keep my dried herbs in the cave. It is cold and dry, which is what herbs want.
Eighteenth. First clean water in nine days. No more stomachs. Teasel owes me one egg.

Twentieth. Bees. Two stings at the hives: Aven, on the neck, and a stranger from Vell, on the ear. Aven wanted nothing. The stranger wanted a great deal. Paid 1, and a lecture on not wearing yellow.
Twenty-second. The cheese maker's daughter, a fever. Cool cloths and willow bark tea. Sat up with her until the lamps went out. Paid 2. She is better.
Twenty-fifth. Old Dunn again. Socks again. Paid 1, with a pot of honey, and another long talk about his feet.
Twenty-eighth. Home to Lowmarsh. Moss carried the bag, eleven jars lighter. It also carried a cheese, three eggs and one frog. The frog is not mine.

Earned: 11 emeralds, 3 eggs, 1 cheese, 1 pot of honey. Frogs: 1, returned.
Spent: jars 4, wax 2, honey 3, willow bark 1, a lantern 2. In all: 12.
I am one emerald poorer and I have a cave. I would do it again.
%%
Ledger: the cave under Brannock's field
Kept by Cleo, miner, for the hamlet of Stile near Kettle Ridge, in autumn, in the week a cave was found under the field of the farmer Brannock. The hamlet's inn kept the accounts. In emeralds.

First day, the day the cave was found.
In: nothing. The inn was empty. Everyone was in the field.
Out: soup for forty, 8. Lanterns, ten, 10. Rope, 12 blocks, 4. Total 22.

Next day.
In: beds 11, supper 30, beer 44. People had come from Kettle Ridge to look. Total 85.
Out: bread 10, ale 12, a boy to watch the hole, 2. Total 24.

Third day.
In: beds 14, supper 36, beer 50, a sale of old maps, which turned up after the cave news, 6. Total 106.
Out: more rope 4, a ladder 5, bread 12, oil 4. Total 25.

Fourth day.
In: beds 12, supper 28, beer 40. Total 80.
Out: Cleo's day in the cave: lamp oil 2, a pick 3, a bag of salt for the way back, 1. Total 6.

What Cleo found: a cave the size of a barn, with stone ribs and a dry floor. Copper in the walls, a thin line. Bones of an old animal, not a cow. A pool of still water at the back. Nobody is going further until the council sends a surveyor.

Four days: in 271, out 77. Kept: 194.
%%
Ledger, the last count
Rowan's accounts, Longnight to the end of Deepsnow. Day by day, because that is what the book is for.

Longnight, first. Coal for the stoves, 14. Lamp oil, 4. Bread from the bakers' cart, which came up alone. The bakers say the Saltreach road is hard with ice past the second waymark.

Longnight, fifth. The Pedrick family came up from the harbor road with two carts and asked for their account. They paid it in full, in emeralds, and asked me to keep their names in the book. Ansel Pedrick, his wife Dell, and their three children. They are going over the sea, they said, on the next boat that sails, and nobody knows when that will be. I wrote the names down. That is what I can do.

Longnight, sixth. A letter by the post from Vell, sealed in wax. Oren wrote it in his careful hand. The archive is to be shut and sealed, every shelf behind its door, and everything must be written down before the seal goes on. He says he is sorry for the order, and that he does not understand it either. Rowan does not know what to write. So he writes the coal.

Longnight, eighth. Coal, 14. Potatoes, 6. The ice has cracked two blocks by the gate. Put torches on the top row, as the old rule says.

Longnight, tenth. A card nailed to the post at the Saltreach road, in Corin's hand. It says: "Keep the fields until we come back." Nothing else. Rowan does not know who is to come back, or from where, and he does not like to ask. He leaves the card on the post.

Deepsnow, first. The carter came up with the last news from the south. The relays past Three Wells are quiet. People say it is the weather, and people say it is not. Rumors are rumors.

Deepsnow, fourth. Last coal of the winter, 14. The snow stopped at dawn. The sky over the north sea was clear, and there was nothing in it. Rowan writes that down too.

Deepsnow, sixth. The last sack of the good harvest opened for the stew. Stew for four, and the girl from the north gate, who came in with her mother and ate two bowls. Her mother paid in bread. Nobody at the table asked about the lights.

Deepsnow, last day. Lamps lit. Glass clean. The lamp on the hill answered once more at dusk, very faint, from the south. I wrote it down. Coal, 14. Keep the fields until we come back.
%%
Ledger: Pell's autumn rounds
Pell, merchant of the Long Road. My ledger for the autumn rounds. I write it out plain so my sister at Ambrook can see I am not cheating anyone, including myself.

Thaw to Sowing. Sold at Three Wells: honey 12 jars, 14 emeralds. Wool 8 bales, 16 emeralds. Bought there: two barrels of beetroot, 6 emeralds.

Sowing to Blossom. Sold at Vell: beetroot, 10 emeralds. The clerks at the archive bought all of it. They say clerks think better with a full pot. Bought at Vell: paper, 4 emeralds, for the school at Three Wells.

Blossom to Swarm. At Kettle Ridge: apples 20, 8 emeralds. Tam sold me the apples and then gave me two more for nothing. He is a bad merchant and a good neighbor.

Swarm to Longday. At Ambrook: bought honey 20 jars, 18 emeralds. The bees had a good year. Paid the beekeeper, who is old and quick and does not like to wait.

Longday to Melon. The road was long and the horse was slow. Hay and stable at the Halfway Inn, 3 emeralds. Soup, 1. The soup was worth more.

Melon to Reaping. At Saltreach: sold wool 10 bales, 22 emeralds. Bought fish, salted, 5 emeralds. The fish smell got into the cart and will not leave.

Reaping to Apple. At Lowmarsh: reeds for baskets, 3 emeralds. Wren bought paper for her notes, 2. She writes small and uses both sides.

Apple to Leaffall. Back to Vell with the rest. Sold the salted fish to the inns, 12 emeralds. One innkeeper haggled. I let him win, because I like his wife.

Goods carried this round: about 40 loads. Bad weather: four days of rain. Broken: one cart wheel, mended at Three Wells for 2 emeralds, and one lamp, not mended.

Total taken: 84 emeralds. Total spent: 41 emeralds. Kept for the winter: 43.

Note: the dog is not mine. He follows the cart. He has followed it since Three Wells. He earns nothing and eats well.
Pell
%%
Ledger: Finch, winter at the farm
Finch, glassblower, at a farm outside Saltreach. The glass house is cold in winter. Short days, long fires. This is the ledger of that winter, 198. All sums in emeralds.
Day 1. Lit the kiln. Wood 2. The fire took three hours to come up.
Day 2. Blew 6 cups. Sold none. Wood 1.
Day 3. Sold 4 cups to the inn. Got 8. Paid 1 for sand. The cat went out and did not come back.
Day 4. Looked for the cat. Found a track in the snow, a small one, going north. Followed it to the end of the field. No cat.
Day 5. Sold 3 panes to a farmer. Got 9. Paid 2 for coal. The cat came back, wet and proud, with a mouse.
Day 7. Sold a window to the new house by the slip. Got 12. They wanted it in green. I made it in green. It came out blue. They said blue was fine.
Day 8. A lamb got into the glass house. It stood among the bottles and did not move. Paid nothing. Cost: one bottle, which the lamb sat on.
Day 9. The lamb's owner came to find it. She said it was a lost animal and she had looked for it for two days. I said it was not lost, it was working. She laughed. Gave me a cheese. Cheese 3.
Day 10. Paid 1 for oil. Sold 2 jars. Got 4.
Day 12. Snow. No sales. The cat sat in the window all day and watched it fall. I watched the cat.
Day 14. Sold 5 cups. Got 10. Paid 2 for wood.
Day 16. Cat gone again. Back by supper.
Totals. In 52, out 10. Left 42, a cheese, a mouse and a cat.
%%
Bel's Account of the Fox, Reaping 208
The house at the edge of Three Wells has a small yard behind it. The hen house is at the far end, beside the oak hedge. Father says the hens have enough room. The hens say nothing, but they walk around his boots whenever he brings grain.
First day. Sold bread, 4 emeralds. Sold apples, 3 emeralds. Bought flour, 2 emeralds. One hen laid an egg in the bread basket. Mother says this is not a sale.
Second day. Sold honey, 5 emeralds. Sold carrots, 2 emeralds. Bought coal, 2 emeralds. The stove went out while Mother was making soup. Father says the coal did not cause it. Mother says the stove has heard him.
Third day. Sold beetroot, 3 emeralds. Sold two loaves, 2 emeralds. Bought a clay jar, 2 emeralds. I marked the jar with my name. Mother says it is still a house jar.
Fourth day. A fox came at the hens before dawn. It got into the yard through the loose board under the hedge. We heard the hens and went out with torches. Father carried a broom. Mother carried a basket. I carried the lid from the bread box, which was not useful.
The fox ran off with one hen. The others crowded in the hen house and complained by making noise. Father fixed the board with oak. The fox came back at dusk and looked at the yard from the road. Father looked back. Neither of them moved.
No sales that morning. Later, a traveler bought bread and honey for 5 emeralds. Bought a new latch for 2 emeralds. The latch works if you pull the door shut hard.
Fifth day. Apples, 4 emeralds. Potatoes, 3 emeralds. Bought flour, 2 emeralds. Mother counted the eggs. There were fewer than yesterday and more than she expected.
Sixth day. Bread, 3 emeralds. Carrots, 3 emeralds. Bought wool for 2 emeralds. I asked if the fox could buy wool. Father said he had no emeralds.
Seventh day. Honey, 4 emeralds. No buying. The fox did not come. The hens went into the yard only after Father stood by the hedge.
The week brought 36 emeralds. We spent 12. Mother wrote the number in the house book. Father wrote, Fox seen. I wrote, Fox owes us one hen. Mother says the fox cannot read the account.
%%
Accounts: Lise's summer board
Lowmarsh, twelfth of Swarm, 181.

First day. Fish, 3 emeralds. Reeds, 1 emerald. Bought bread, 2 emeralds. Box now holds 2 emeralds.
Second day. Two jars of honey, 6 emeralds. Paid for lamp oil, 1 emerald. Box holds 7.
Third day. A basket of carrots, 2 emeralds. Bought thread, 1 emerald. Box holds 8.
Fourth day. Fish, 4 emeralds. Bought a small pot from the potter, 3 emeralds. Box holds 9.
Fifth day. No trade. A frog took the step. I waited until it left before sweeping.
Sixth day. Eggs, 2 emeralds. Bread, 2 emeralds. Box holds 9.

Wren says the new pot is too small for washing cloths. It is just right for soup.
Lise
%%
Bel's House Book, Longday 202
At the house by the east road, I counted the shop money for Mother.
First day: sold two jars of honey, 3 emeralds. Bought bread, 1 emerald.
Second day: sold carrots, 2 emeralds. Bought a clay pot, 1 emerald.
Third day: sold apples, 4 emeralds. Father bought back one apple for me. No money.
Fourth day: sold a pumpkin, 2 emeralds. Mother says I cannot count the pumpkin twice.
The box has 9 emeralds. I counted again. It still has 9.
%%
Ledger: the Stile Inn, three days
Kept by Cleo, miner, who helps with the accounts of the Stile Inn in the hamlet of Stile, near Kettle Ridge. Autumn. In emeralds.

First day.
In: beds 6, supper 9, beer 11. Total 26.
Out: bread 3, a pig's leg 5, oil 1. Total 9.

Second day.
In: beds 4, supper 7, beer 14. Total 25.
Out: flour 4, candles 2, a new mug 1. Total 7.

Third day.
In: beds 8, supper 12, beer 20. Total 40.
Out: wood 6, a ham 8, mending of the chimney 5. Total 19.

Three days: in 91, out 35. Kept: 56.

Cleo says: the beer sells best on a day when the mine is closed.
%%
Bel's accounts, Melon, the new road
Melon, first day. Sold 10 jars. Got 20. The toll post collected 16 emeralds this morning, from the carts, and Dad says that is the town's money. The town's money goes to the wall at the south well, which is good, because the wall has a crack at the bottom.
Melon, second day. Sold 6 jars. Got 12. Two of the road crew came to the stall and asked for three jars for their families at Saltreach. Dad said they could have them at cost. They said the cost was not what they were worried about.
Melon, third day. Sold 4 jars. Got 8. A man on the new road asked me to count his emeralds for him, because he could not see them clearly. I counted them twice. He was right.
Melon, fourth day. Rain. Got 0. Dad says the honey does not mind the rain, but the customers do.
Melon, fifth day. Sold 11 jars. Got 22. The best day this month. A family from Lowmarsh came up the new road with a cart and a baby. They bought a jar for the baby, and the baby ate some of it off the lid. Dad laughed so much he had to sit down on the bench.
Melon, sixth day. Sold 5 jars. Got 10. Paid the toll for the cart, 2. Paid the wall, 1. Paid Ned for the wheel again, 1. Ned says the wheel is fine. I say the wheel is talking to me.
Melon, seventh day. The toll post has a new notice. It says the road is open to Saltreach for all carts, and carts must keep to the left. Dad says the left is where the crew is working. The crew says the left is where the ships are. Nobody knows what they mean by it. I have written both answers down.
Melon, eighth day. Sold 7 jars. Got 14. Gave one jar to the north road keeper, who sent a boy down with a basket for it. He wrote a note: thank you for the honey, the lamp is bright, we are well at the top. I put it in the honey box with the sums.
%%
Ledger: Hebb farm, Thaw to Sowing
Kept by Lise, for the farm. Emeralds. Farm on the hill road below Copperhold.
Thaw, 1st. Bought seed wheat, 3 sacks, 6 emeralds. Sold eggs, 9 for 1 at the mine gate, 3 emeralds.
Thaw, 4th. Paid the mason for the new wall, 5 emeralds. Mended the cart wheel myself, free.
Thaw, 9th. Sold 2 lambs at Copperhold, 8 each. 16 emeralds. Bought salt, 2 emeralds.
Sowing, 2nd. Bought 2 hens, 2 each. Sold fleece, 4 emeralds.
Sowing, 6th. Paid the tower keeper for the coal, 3 emeralds. The keeper says the coal is damp. I say the keeper is damp.
Sowing, 11th. Sold beetroot seed to the Halfway Inn, 1 emerald the packet, 5 packets. Five emeralds.
Sowing, 15th. Lost a sack of potatoes to the rain. Not sold. Not paid for. Written here so I remember.
%%
Letter: Oren to Nessa, with the count
To Nessa at the tutors' house, from Oren at the archive. Autumn of 203. Sent down the hill by the boy who brings the bread, though it is only a short walk and I could have brought it myself.

The autumn count is done. In the copying room we have copied and filed: 412 letters, 90 of them from the relay towers; 31 town notices; 14 bills and ledgers; 6 school essays; and one song, which the clerk would not file under letters and would not file under notices, so it has its own shelf now, and the shelf has one song on it. The clerk is proud of the shelf. I have let him keep it.

Of the letters, 120 came to the archive for the drills and will be copied again and the copies put in the test box, where no mind is ever drilled on them. I have checked the box twice. The second time I found a spoiled page in it, and took it out, and put it with the spoiled pages where it belongs. I do not like spoiled pages near the test box. It worries me.

The copying room was the brightest room in the hill all autumn. The big window over the town caught the low sun, and the eight long tables were full every morning. A boy from Three Wells came to watch the copying and stayed three days. On the third day he asked whether the words get tired. I said no. He seemed disappointed.

The deepest room is dry and cool and still. The oldest record is in its oak box and the box is well. I looked in on it. I always look in on it.

One thing for your accounts, since you keep them: the archive bought 40 jars of honey from Pell, 20 emeralds, for the clerks. The clerks say honey helps them think. I have watched them think. It is mostly the honey.

Come up the hill when you can. Bring the small apprentice with the dented shoulder. The clerks would like to see it. I would too.

Oren
%%
Bel's Old Map, Blossom 203
There is an old map in the chest under the bench. It is brown and soft at the folds. Father says it was already old when he was a child.
It shows the roads from Three Wells to Ambrook and Kettle Ridge. The little marks may be inns, or trees. I think one is a cow.
The map says the east road goes to the square. Our house is at its edge, beside the road. Mother says this is useful, because carts can stop without blocking the well.
I asked why the map has no school. Father said the school was built later, with Copperhold stone and Saltreach glass.
The map has a small blue mark by the stream. I asked if it was a pond. Father says it is ink.
I will keep the map flat. The chest lid will not close if I put my slate on it.
%%
Tally board, the Halfway Inn, Swarm 176
Kept by Quill, who sits the night watch here and keeps the board between walks. The inn stands where the Long Road crosses the brook, one day's walk from Three Wells. Twelve beds. The hearth has not gone out in twenty years, and I mean to keep it so.
Beds let, one emerald a head, two for a bed by the window:
Second of Swarm: four beds. Third: six. Fourth: six. Fifth: two.
Sixth: none. A quiet night. I played the riddle board against myself and lost twice.
Seventh: nine beds, two carts in the yard, Pell among them. Pell paid for three nights at once and told me the price of honey for an hour. I wrote it down. I do not know why.
Ale, two copper a cup. Soup, one. Bread, one. Hay for a horse, one.
Ninth: a bad night. A zombie at the gate after dark, rattling the latch. I put two more torches on the posts and it went off toward the brook. No harm. The gate held. Bread and soup for four travelers who would not go out until it was light.
Eleventh: a birth. A family stopped here in the rain, and the baby came before the rain stopped. The mother is well. The father cried and paid me an emerald he did not owe. I gave it back. We named the child Halfway, for the joke, and they laughed and kept it.
Fourteenth: ten beds. The road is dry and the carts are moving.
Sum of the month: beds, sixty emeralds. Ale and soup and hay, forty. Repairs to the gate latch, five. Paid to the mill for flour, eight. Left in the tin: the rest, and a little more than last summer.
Quill. Keep the torches lit.
%%
Ledger: Cal's forge
Kept by Cal, smith. Emeralds.
Swarm, 1st. Iron, 3 ingots, from the mine gate, 3 emeralds. The gate men are thin this year, and the iron comes in short. Paid the gate man for the walk, 1.
Swarm, 3rd. Shod the Ambrook cart horse. It has grown so fat on the apples that the shoe would not close. Took the shoe back to the anvil and beat it wider. 2 emeralds.
Swarm, 5th. A farmer from Hollow Brook came with a spade that had split in the middle. He said the split was the fault of the spade. I said the split was the fault of the stone. He paid 2 for the weld, and I did not argue further.
Swarm, 8th. Made a new hive door from copper, for a hive by the mill. Ama says the bees will not go in a copper door. I said then the bees will have to walk round it. She laughed. 3 emeralds.
Swarm, 10th. Sold a jar of honey to the forge boy, who pays with eggs. 2 jars for 6 eggs. I think he has had the better of the deal, and I have had the better honey.
Swarm, 14th. Coal, 2 sacks, 4 emeralds. The dry coal is nearly gone. The carter says the lower levels of the mine are wet this year, and the drain men are busy from dawn to dusk. He says they are cheerful about it, which is the strangest part.
Swarm, 16th. Paid the boy who carries the buckets, 1 emerald and a bun. He was very pleased with the bun. He says he will grow up to be a smith. I told him the bun is not a smith's wage.
Swarm, 20th. Forge quiet. Nothing to make. The apprentice swept the floor three times in a row, and I did not stop it. The floor is very clean.
%%
The Wet Boot, Reedend: Melon accounts
Kept by Yarrow, who keeps the Wet Boot. Melon, 206. All sums in emeralds. The inn has two beds, a hearth and, since Longday, a cave.

First. Took: bed and stew for a carter, 2. Spent: wood, 1. Fish put in the cave: 14.
Third. Took: a traveler, a bed, two bowls of stew, and a story I did not ask for, 3. Spent: salt, 1.
Fourth. Pell, going north. Took: two nights, 4. Paid in honey, two jars. His horse Barley ate the hedge. Spent: one hedge, to be mended, 2. I asked Pell to pay for the hedge. He says Barley is a guest.
Sixth. Twenty melons from the high field went into the cave. At supper: cave melon, cold as the well, three slices for 1. Took: 9 that night. Everyone says the cave is the best thing since the roof.
Ninth. Wren to supper, two bowls, and a look at my knees. Paid in a salve. I value the salve at 2. It works.
Eleventh. Fish in the cave: 14 put in, 9 eaten by guests, 5 gone. The cat is not a guest. Spent on the cat: nothing. Spent by the cat: 5 fish.
Fourteenth. The Marl twins broke a plate. Paid by their mother, 1. They broke another. Paid by the twins, in a promise.
Seventeenth. Rain. No guests. Counted the spoons: fourteen. Last month there were thirteen. Nobody knows.
Twentieth. A frog in a traveler's soup. Soup free. Frog returned to the water. Frog did not apologize.
Twenty-fourth. Took: a tutor from Vell, walking to Lowmarsh. Bed and stew, 3. She drilled the twins in sums for an hour. They offered to pay me to stop her.
Other days, stew and bread: 17.
Took in all: 41. Spent: wood 6, salt 3, flour 5, a hedge 2, plates 2, nails 1, fish for the cat 3. In all: 22. Left: 19.
The cave is the best thing the inn has had. Cold things stay cold. Warm things stay by the hearth, where they belong.
%%
Ledger: Finch, a winter of windows
Finch, glassblower, at the farm outside Saltreach, winter of 201. A long ledger, because there was a great deal to write and it was cold, and a man must do something while the glass cools.
Day 1. Orders for windows: 3 from the new house, 2 from the shipyard, 1 from the inn. Each 12. In 72 promised.
Day 2. Blew a window. It cracked on cooling. Lost 6.
Day 3. Blew another. It held. Sand 2, wood 3.
Day 4. Delivered to the inn. Got 12. The cook gave me soup. I paid nothing.
Day 5. The cat went out and did not come back. I looked in the shed, in the yard, in the barn. I asked a neighbor. He said he had seen a cat on the quay. I said that was likely her. He said she was sitting on a net. I went to the quay. She was gone.
Day 6. She was back. She would not say where she had been. Paid nothing.
Day 7. A lost animal: a sheep, brought in by the farmer, who said it had been found at the glass house door. It had been standing there all night. I said I did not want a sheep. He said nobody had asked. The sheep stayed.
Day 8. The sheep ate a sack of grain. Grain 1.
Day 9. Delivered window to the shipyard. Got 12. The shipwright asked about green glass for the stern lamp of a new boat. I said I could do it.
Day 10. Blew 4 green panes. Three held. Wood 4, sand 3.
Day 11. Delivered green. Got 36. The shipwright said they were fine. He hung one in the window to see it in the light.
Day 12. Sold nothing. The sheep sat on a bench. The cat sat on the sheep.
Day 14. The sheep's owner came. Brought a cheese for the trouble. Cheese 3.
Day 16. Delivered the last window. Got 12. Total for the orders, 72.
Day 17. Counted. Wood 21, sand 12, coal 8, losses 12. Out 53.
Day 18. In 108 including the cheese. Left 55. The cat has gone out again.
%%
Accounts: Lise's door and purse
House at the edge of Lowmarsh, second of Reaping, 198.

I have put a board inside the door. It is level, though the house is not. The board holds the day account, a jar of dry reeds, and the clean cloths. The purse hangs above it. I tied the hole shut with thread.

First day. Fish, 4 emeralds. Reeds, 2. Honey, 3. Total in, 9. Bread and potatoes, 4. Left, 5.
Second day. A traveler paid 2 emeralds for supper and a bed. The bed was dry. The supper had a small piece of fish. He said it was a large piece. I did not argue.
Third day. Eggs, 2. Carrots, 2. Soap, 1. Left, 8.
Fourth day. Wren brought a bundle of clean cloths. I paid her 2 emeralds. She said the bundle was worth 3. I said I would pay the last one after market.
Fifth day. Fish, 3. Reeds, 1. Honey, 3. Flour, 2. Left, 13.

A man came from the east boardwalk with a split boot and no coin. He mended my loose step with a good piece of oak. I gave him a bowl of stew. We both called it even.

Sixth day. I sold two jars of honey for 6 emeralds. I paid Wren the last emerald. Debt paid, in full. She wrote it on the board herself, then drew a very small frog beside it.

The frog was not hers. I know this because it stayed for supper.
Lise
%%
Notice board, the Halfway Inn, Apple 203
A sheet pinned by the hearth, written in Quill's hand and the hands of guests. The inn keeps a board for riddles, prices, lost things and news. This is the board as it stood on the ninth of Apple, 203.
Riddle of the month, by the hearth: A fox, a hen and a sack of wheat must cross the brook, and the boat holds one at a time. Who eats whom? Ask Quill for the answer. Do not ask Pell.
Prices this week: bed one emerald, ale two copper, soup one, bread one, hay one. The roof is mended. Thank you, roofer Joss. The bucket is retired.
Lost: a grey wool cap, found on the third bed. Claim it at the board. It is a good cap. It is too small for me.
Wanted: a boy to mind the horses on market days. Ask for Quill after dark. Pay, two copper and supper.
News of the road: the bridge past the brook is sound. Torches are lit to the twelfth post. The waymark at the fork has lost its little stones again. If you pass it, leave one.
A birth, since the last board: the carter's wife was here in Blossom and had a girl, and they called her Nella, and the carter has promised her a pony when she is six. We shall see.
A night to remember: on the second of Apple a zombie came to the gate and a guest threw a boot at it from the window. The boot was lost. The zombie went off with it, I think, or the brook took it. If you find a boot, it is mine.
The hearth has not gone out in twenty seven years. Come and sit by it.
Quill.
%%
Ledger, a good harvest, sold
Rowan's accounts, the end of Leaffall and the start of Frost. Emeralds, day by day.

Leaffall, nineteenth. Wheat from the north field, thirty sacks, to the Long Road carter. 3 each: 90. He says they will sell at Three Wells for 4. He asked if I was sorry. I am not.

Leaffall, twenty-first. Beetroot, forty baskets, to the bakers at the north gate: 40, paid in part in bread.

Leaffall, twenty-fourth. Lamp oil for the north tower lamp. The relay house pays 4 a week for the oil, and 4 a night for the climb. I climb six nights a week. Written in full, so nobody says I cheated.

Leaffall, twenty-sixth. Dug the north gate wall two days with Garrow's crew. 6 each, 36 altogether. Garrow says the wall is higher than it was, and that is the good news.

Leaffall, thirtieth. The store is full. Bought a coat of Saltreach wool for the climb: 14. The old coat stays in the lamp room, where the rats cannot reach it.

Frost, second. The Long Road carter says the signal to the south was slow last night, and then it was not sent at all. Rumors are rumors. He said it twice, to be sure I heard.

Frost, third. Good harvest, good store, the third good week in a row. Written here so that somebody will read it and be glad.
%%
Northpoint log, summer 205
Kept by Mira at the Northpoint tower. Written in short. The summer of 205.
Third of Swarm: sun all day. The snow pulls back from the foot of the tower. Lantern and I walked the rungs to the top, all ninety, and counted the lamps. All lit.
Fourth: a fox on the steps at dawn. It looked at me and did not run. I gave it nothing. It came back at noon and I gave it a little fish. Now we are friends, I think. Lantern says I have made a mistake.
Sixth: message from Vell. Oren asks for the year's log early. I said I would send it when the year is done. He said please. I said seen.
Eighth: Tam writes from Kettle Ridge. Pip has learned to bring the sheep in on the word alone. Tam says it is the finest thing he has seen. Tam says the sheep disagree.
Tenth: fog. The lamp shows nothing past the walk. I keep the lamp trimmed.
Twelfth: a ship's length of clear sky. The lights over the north are quiet this summer. I do not write of them much. Lantern asks. I say they are stars and he does not believe me, and I do not believe me either, but we let it be.
Fifteenth: a letter from a child at Three Wells, Bel, asking how many rungs the tower has and whether I am lonely. I wrote back, ninety, and sometimes. Lantern says I should have said no. I said the child asked.
Twentieth: the big mind in the relay house is well. The quickeners are kept cool with ice from the north shed. I check them each morning. It answers the apprentices on the road and they thank it, which is polite.
Twenty second: Tam writes again. The beetroot is up. He sends a joke about a fox and a hen that I have heard before. I laughed anyway.
Twenty fifth: rain. The roof is green copper and holds. Lantern mended the door latch. We ate soup and played at riddles. I won.
End of the month. All well. Lamps trimmed. Mira.
%%
Ferris, ledger, the creeper and the wall
Leaffall, 13th. Fog gone. Market full. Sold 20 apples at 2, 10 emeralds. Sold 5 jars of honey at 2, 10. Sold 4 bundles of wool at 1 each, 4.
Leaffall, 14th. A creeper came up the lane from the reeds in the dusk. It was not one of the small ones. Jory says it was the big green kind that the boatmen warn about. It walked up to the back wall of the mill yard, which is stone and very sturdy, and stopped there. It made the noise. It did not finish the noise. The wall went up in a flash, and the stone came down over the lane like a rockfall. Nobody was inside the wall. Nobody was hurt. Three of the mill's hens were lost, and the miller's bench was crushed, and the apple cart at the far end was buried under a heap of grey rubble.
Leaffall, 15th. Cleared the lane. Paid the boys who cleared it, 6 emeralds. They wanted 8. They found a copper ring in the rubble and kept it, which I think is fair.
Leaffall, 15th, evening. Jory says the wall must be mended by the next market. Stone costs 1 each. He needs 40 blocks. He has 12. He says the council will pay half. The council says it will think about it. I told him to write to the council. He told me to write to the council. We have decided to do nothing until the next cart, which is how all good decisions in Ambrook are made.
Leaffall, 18th. Stone from Three Wells arrived. Paid the carter, 20 emeralds, for 20 blocks of cobblestone. The mill wall is now half of a wall. The other half is still lying in the lane, which I suppose is what a creeper leaves behind.
Leaffall, 20th. Sold 30 apples, 15 emeralds. Apples are sweet this year. Sold 2 jars of honey to a man from the Long Road who said he would pay in two weeks. He did not say which two weeks.
%%
Notice: the market at Lowmarsh, spring
Posted on the board by the fish weir, spring of 206.
The Lowmarsh market opens at first light and closes when the frogs start.
Stalls on the boardwalk. Keep your boats clear of the weir.
Abel the glassblower has bottles and panes. He trades glass for fish, but the fish must be fresh.
Wren's healing house wants clean jars. Bring them to the shed, not the beds.
Moss will carry goods for 1 the trip. Moss is an apprentice and does not argue about the price.
No fires on the boardwalk. Torches in the posts only. Keep them lit.
Lost: one grey cat. Answers to nothing. Ask at the boat house.
The tally on the wall is the truth. If your name is not there, you did not bring fish.
Signed by the market keepers, Lowmarsh
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Bel's summer, all of it, in emeralds
Written by Bel, age ten, at the honey stall by the south well, at the end of the summer, so that the sums are all in one place.
Longday. Honey sold, 6, 4, 9, 0, 7 and the days after. Total for Longday: 84 emeralds. Toll paid on the cart: 8. Wheel mended: 2. Gave away the dark jar to the man from the north road, for nothing, and Dad said that was all right.
Swarm. Honey sold, 8, 5, 3, 6, 9, and the days after. Total for Swarm: 96 emeralds. The toll post came up and the road opened to the bridge. The crew bought honey for their families. The family with the cow did not stop, and the mother looked at the road and then at us, and then went on.
Melon. Honey sold, 10, 6, 4, 0, 11, 5, 7, 9, 4, and the days after. Total for Melon: 118 emeralds. The toll post collected 16 in one morning. The wall at the south well was mended with the town's money. The notice about the left was put up, and nobody knows what it means, and everybody keeps to the left.
Honey given away: 1 dark jar to the man from the north road. 1 jar to the little relay. 3 jars to the crew. 1 jar to the baby who ate it off the lid, which Dad says was a fair price.
Honey kept for the house: 2 jars, for the winter, and one for the jar we keep for ourselves.
Total for the summer: 298 emeralds. Spent on tolls, wheels and the wall: 27. Saved in the tin: 271.
Dad says that is a good summer. He says it twice, in the same voice he uses for the wells. I think he is counting too. I think he is counting the new road, and the people on it, and the jars, and the ones that went the other way. I do not know how to write that as a sum, so I have left it out.
The tin is under the bench. The sums are in the honey box. The bees are back on their boards, and they are heavy with the summer, and they do not know any of this, which Dad says is the best thing about bees.
Bel's note at the bottom. The candle has burned down to the tin. I counted the tin twice before I wrote the total, because Dad says a total is only true if you count it twice. Then Dad came back from the road with his hat in his hand and said the crew has asked for a jar every week until the road is finished, and then they want to know where the road goes after Saltreach. Dad said he did not know. I said the honey does not know either. Dad laughed, and said that was a good sum to end on, and he put a jar on the sill for the morning.
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Northpoint shed and inn, spring 191
Account kept by Dunn, boat builder. The inn keeper, Sella, shares this page when the shed is quiet. Emeralds only.

Thaw 4. Sold one skiff to the net fishers. Received 11. Bought spruce boards for 4 and iron nails for 1. Paid 1 for bread and milk. Balance 5.

Thaw 5. Sold a pair of oars. Received 3. Sella sold two bowls of stew and a loaf to the road men. Received 2. She bought potatoes and carrots for 1. Shared balance 9.

Thaw 6. No boat sale. Paid 1 for coal. Sella paid 1 for lamp oil and 1 for a sack of wheat. Balance 6. The oil tin tipped over, but only onto the floor. Sella says the floor needed oiling.

Sowing 1. Sold a small boat to the keeper's house. Received 9. Bought boards for 3. Paid Rill 1 to carry them up from the shore. Balance 11. Rill carried one board under each arm and said the cart was tired.

Sowing 2. Sella sold a supper to four travelers. Received 4. Paid 1 for bread, 1 for eggs and 1 for milk. Balance 13.

Sowing 3. Sold three oars and a hook box. Received 5. Paid 1 for wool to cover the boat seats. Balance 18. A seat without wool is a bench. A bench without a boat is furniture, said Sella. I cannot argue with that.

Sowing 4. Paid 2 for a new shed latch. The old latch opened when the wind pushed it and stayed shut when I pushed it. Balance 16.

Blossom 1. Sold a repaired boat. Received 6. Sella sold bread and stew. Received 3. Bought apples for 1. Balance 24.

Blossom 2. Paid 1 for coal and 1 for lamp oil. No sales. Balance 22. The wind blew the sign around. It now points to the sea, which is correct but not helpful.

Blossom 3. Sold one boat for 12. Paid 4 for boards and 1 for nails. Sella bought potatoes for 1. Balance 28.

Blossom 4. The keeper brought back the little boat with a wet rope and a dry fish. No charge for the rope. The fish went in the pot. Sella says the account is balanced.
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Reedend box: the cave in the field
Kept by Teasel, who keeps the box. Longday, 206. All sums in emeralds.

Twelfth. Began the new well at the north end of the high field, where the grass is greenest. Hired Fen and Noll to dig, 16 the pair, to be paid when there is water.
Fourteenth. Down 11 paces. Noll's shovel went through the floor of the hole, and Noll's arm went after it. He says there is a room under us. He said it twice, because he did not believe it.
Fourteenth, later. Tied a rope to Noll and lowered him with a torch. He came up at once. He says the room is as big as the inn, and cold, and smells of wet stone.
Fifteenth. Went down in turn: Fen, Noll, Wren, who was passing, and me. A cave, high as three people. A floor of dry clay. Dripping walls. At the back, a pool of clear water, black and still, with no frog in it. Wren tasted it and said it is clean. She said it twice. She never says anything twice.
Fifteenth. Six lanterns for the cave: 12. A rope of forty paces: 5. An oak ladder: 8. A pulley: 4. A longer rope and a bucket for the pool: 8.
Eighteenth. Water! The first bucket came up by pulley, and the whole hamlet drank in a line. Old Dunn said it tasted of nothing. That is how you know. Paid Fen and Noll: 16.
Twentieth. Filled in the old well with stones, to keep the children out of it. Stones: 3. Nobody has told the children to keep out of the cave. They have not yet found out how to get in.
Twenty-first. The cheese maker has asked for a shelf in the cave. The hens will not go near the hole. The cat went in, looked around, and came out with an opinion.
Spent: 56. From the box: 45. From the hamlet: 11, in coins and in nails. Left in the box: nothing. Water: free, for as long as there is a rope.
