Sherajan

A thousand years cooling under ash, and the spot I'm assigned is a half-broken bowl. I laughed because it was absurd.

• DuralMa'am, mind if I set odds on that absurdity?
  SherajanGo ahead. Bet your teeth on it too.
• MirhaWait, that voice was real? I heard something outside the armory last night and spun around three times!
  HadriPretend you didn't. Everyone who lives long around here does.

Sleeping with a number carved in bone hung round your neck is what they call sleep here. Reading that number aloud is my hobby.

• NeilaRead all you like. I'm the one who sets the price.
  SherajanI'd like to hang one round your neck too, but I don't have hands.
• Old Woman TahriThat iron of yours, the break runs upward. Iron that breaks downward never comes back.
  SherajanOld woman. Talk more about iron. That's the only thing that doesn't grate on me.

Other blades pour every fight they've survived straight into their palm. My side stays quiet not because there's nothing to remember, but because I don't care to say it.

• Old Woman TahriIron can't lie. Staying silent means it still hurts.
  SherajanOld woman. Next time, say something less accurate.
• MirhaThey say stepping on that pillar's shadow at noon is bad luck, is that actually true?
  HadriIt's true. Half the kids who stepped on it never came back.

The only thing left over from cooling under the ash is this expression. It still works fine.

• KarjanThat face, I'd like to see it on the sand myself.
  SherajanKeep looking and you'll get used to it.
• MirhaWow, your eyes really are the color of copper. Can I draw this?
  SherajanDraw it. Draw it badly and I'll burn it.
• HadriI've looked at those eyes a long time. The old ones all had eyes like that too.
  SherajanOld man. Don't talk about the old ones.