Rugar

They asked the same thing again today. I gave the same answer.

• Warden BaneThe same answer isn't an answer. The record board is still empty.
  RugarIf it's empty, your hand was lazy.
• KirikWhoa, is yours truly the only one who noticed the chain's two spans shorter?
  RugarIf you noticed, keep it to yourself and go.

The spear's tip is dull. It's the laughter that lingers longer.

• YeomunA beast who knows how to endure is the most frightening kind. Those boys don't understand that.
  RugarI have no intention of being frightening.
• Kur...Did it hurt?
  RugarIt didn't hurt. That's not something you ask.

Frost has settled on the yard. The iron's grown colder, and lately I find myself counting the mornings as they come.

• KirikCounting mornings? The calamity beast finally learned to count. Now that's worth spreading around.
  RugarIf it's not counting but waiting, does that make it worse?
• Warden BaneThe counting happens on this side of the board. In the yard, you only answer.
  RugarThe answer's been the same for a hundred days. The only thing that's changed is your face.

I watched my words stay as lines on the board. For the first time in a hundred years, my voice sits somewhere it won't be erased.

• YeomunWhat stays can always be read again. It's too soon to be glad about it.
  RugarLet it be read. Our language has no word for making things up.
• Kur...Aren't you scared, writing with the white powder?

I rolled an old word no one had ever managed to transcribe around in my throat. It came back clumsy, and I spent the whole night listening to that clumsy sound again.

• MorgThe old words aren't given to just anyone, child.
  RugarI didn't give it away. I measured it. I was just the one left more shaken, once it was measured.
• KirikListened all night? That's just a long way of saying you didn't sleep.