Chapter 22

By the fire, Evar explains how he recognized the statue as Carlotte, recalling seeing Carlotte with Livira fleeing a burning library before canith captured her. He and Arpix propose that Carlotte escaped to the Exchange and traveled in time, despite Kerrol’s objections that past visits are only as untouching ghosts, raising a paradox.

Arpix lights a fire and stitches Clovis’s wound as the canith weigh their next move. Clovis urges finding their kind and raising an army to defeat the skeer for control of the library. Evar resists war as an end in itself, while Clovis argues technology decides wars and the library is the ultimate weapon.

Kerrol reframes their dilemma around Mayland’s contested mythology: an ideological struggle between preserving universal memory through the library versus wiping the slate clean after calamities. He argues crowds condense options into two poles, making conflict inevitable, and predicts Evar will follow Livira’s choice while Clovis will oppose it.

Arpix redirects them toward practical aims and asks about Wentworth. He explains Wentworth is Yute’s cat and likely a guide rather than a talker, one who grew fond of Salamonda and occasionally intervened—most recently destroying the cratalacs. Evar questions why Wentworth hasn’t offered clearer help if they were sent for a purpose.

Arpix calls the cat with an enticing "What’s this?" but nothing happens until Clovis spots a shape in the shadows. Salamonda rushes over, joyfully greeting Wentworth, who allows her fussing with aloof indulgence. Evar notes, wryly, that summoning him was as simple as calling his name, signaling a new avenue for guidance.