Chapter 9: Second Seventh

The second seventh passed in a low, quiet rite, with the monk chanting and the clan kneeling in rows.

Nothing went wrong, which was a relief, and Shen Ke sang his hour to the full sixty minutes.

Hanzhou stood at the pillar and did not look at a watch.

He had not looked at one since the night he docked an hour.

In the eleven days since the night of the urn they had been alone twice.

Both times had ended with a kiss and a footstep.

They had been careful in the hall, and in the corridor, and across the dinner table of the family.

Hanzhou's eyes had followed him anyway, and Shen Ke had stopped pretending not to notice.

When the hall emptied, Hanzhou came and stopped in front of him.

"The sutra room," he said.

"Why?"

"It is the only room in this wing with a lock on the inside."

Shen Ke put down the tray of tea he was carrying, very carefully, on the nearest ledge.

The sutra room was small and bare, with a mat on the floor, a low table, and a single brass lamp.

Hanzhou turned the key behind them and stood with his back to the door.

"I have a statement," he said.

"Make it."

"The answering cry is solved. I am no longer worried about the elders."

He swallowed.

"I have thought about you instead, for eleven days, in the middle of three board calls."

"That sounds inefficient."

"It is extremely inefficient," said Hanzhou. "I have made two errors in a spreadsheet."

Shen Ke started to laugh, and caught it, and failed.

"Term two," said Hanzhou, severely.

"It's a locked room."

"It is a room in the hall wing."

"Then fine me," said Shen Ke. "Dock me an hour."

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