Figurehead

thirty-six

I know he's watching me with a hint of laughter on his tired face. I can feel it. And although I know it's because my mouth is wide open and I'm turning slowly in a circle, speechless, and it is therefore at my expense, I'm glad to see it. The prayer really helped, I can tell. I think that maybe it helped him refocus just a bit, helped him remember that we're all here to support him and that we all love him.

I genuinely believe it is right for him to go and look for her. His love for her is only the faintest of an echo of the Lord's love for us, but still, I can see it. And it's beautiful. I hope Riu sees it, if she hasn't seen it already.

My heart sinks a little. Riu and I grew up together, like Sher and I, only Riu and I were close for Dre and Dre. We talked about all sorts of stuff, and yeah, she knew the Lord. But we didn't talk about our beliefs much, since we were just children focused on other stuff like boys and studies and messing around and family and everything else. We met Lus seven Dre ago at different times. I don't remember how I met him, because I was with a group of people and we were busy, but Riu told me the day after she met him that she had no idea what she'd said. She said she mostly just stared at him and tried to breathe.

A smile curls my lips at the memory.

I blink, refocusing my gaze on the first heir as he shuffles over to the wall covered in parchments. "These are the decrees Jur and Dein have put in place so far," he says, gesturing broadly with the staff in his hands.

The wall is half-covered in parchments, each printed in neat ink, each marked by the Escatin seal. Copies of these decrees exist in every province, in the courts of the Sirdiu. Copies of the new decree get sent out every time one is made.

"All the others are kept carefully preserved in these," he continues, again gesturing with the staff. Six large chests of drawers lined behind us have been arranged in pairs, each pair with their backs against each other. Together, they extend from behind us to the other wall.

"If the decrees are still in place, still relevant, then the drawers are marked. See?" He points at a swirl of ink on one of the draws. He raises an eyebrow at me, and I nod.

He turns and points at the shelves on the other side of the room, opposite the wall of decrees. There are five in total, spaced out evenly from each other. Each one reaches from the wall to halfway through the room, and each touches the ceiling, which isn't very high, since the room is underground. It smells musty, earthy. Old. But in a nice way. Like the Escrituras in the innermost chamber of the Sancta.

"Everything else is kept in those." He looks me in the eye. "Everything," he emphasises. I nod. He turns back to look at them. "Every single record, every message sent to or from the first Escatin people, every single binding, every birth, every death, every ink design."

"Everything," I echo quietly.

He gives me a faint smile. "This is the Archive, after all," he says, gesturing at it all. "And that's why it is our duty as heirs to keep everything in here safe. Everything, except for the decrees on the wall, can be accessed only if the drawers are unlocked properly or the shelves are unshielded the right way."

I nod. "So what are we supposed to do here, exactly?"

He tucks his hands in his jacket pockets, blowing out a breath. "Every few days, we check everything is alright. So, the drawer locks are all intact and all the shelves are shielded right. If not, then we have to try and find out what's missing or what's been changed, and we also tell the king."

"So what about birth, binding and death records? Aren't they written every single day?" I sweep my gaze over the room again. It's hard not to be impressed. This place is underground, reachable only from the rooms of the Escatin, Dein's firstkin. There are visible entrances to sets of steps leading to Dein's rooms, Jur's rooms, Lac's rooms and Rist's rooms. The only ones still accessible, though, are from Jur's and Dein's rooms.