Xanarona looked at the blueprints over and over again. It was spread atop a large table and it had plans for the construction of a terminal on a rugged, uneven rock-face. Edxine had drawn up the blueprints for the Engineers of House Hadtlinn. The records of transactions for House Bandaggaile was at one corner, and as much as Xanarona convinced herself to start going through them, there was an itch to be scratched concerning Hadtlinn. Edxine had also given Xanarona a guide to ascertain what was what, and for the two hours she had been poring over it, everything seemed so innocent. The dual pipes for extracting metals, the measurements for each section, the bibliotheca, the living areas, the armory. There was nothing extraneous. The only evident subtraction from the terminal was the irregularity at the foundation to fit the rough stone. She rolled up the paper of the blueprints, turned away but was defeated by the compulsion to take just one more look. So, she checked again. Edxine had said that Mona Hadtlinn, the Avenue of House Hadtlinn, had met him personally with the request for the terminal.

  “The Avenue of Hadtlinn didn't say anything deserving of suspicion. She complained that earlier renditions left the terminal leaning unfavourably to one side. And that the pillar held so much rich metals to be entirely ignored.”

  “Surely House Hadtlinn has the means to even an odd-shaped rock?”

  “Rock fissures are a huge risk especially since pipe holes are going to be drilled. Those pipes will be rotating too, that quadruples the risks.”

  “Thank you, Edxine,” she had said before beginning her fruitless search.

  A final look at the blueprints brought no success. She rolled up the paper again, seriously, this time, and called, “Hedwig.”

  A small door connected her room to Hedwig’s, though Hedwig’s was far smaller. Hedwig’s “room” was actually an attached study that came as part of Xanarona's own. It was converted from a study to a makeshift room with Nara's help. Xanarona wanted her handmaiden close to her for reasons she had never spoken of.

  “Hedwig, find me Dorren, the one who Edxine said keeps the inter-House records.”

  Hedwig, the middle-aged maid, nodded pithily and before she left the room to carry out her orders, Xanarona added, “Pass me the Bandaggaile records, they are beside my bed.”

  Hedwig obeyed, and following that, left to summon Dorren.

  Xanarona turned the pages of the first book on its wire bindings. The fact that it was bone paper and not the ordinary, easy-to-crinkle paper screen made her smile. Bone paper was produced, with very great difficulty, in the Steelhouse. And as the term implied, bone paper was fashioned from the bones of dead Krakians like how some silver was obtained from Krakian blood. But unlike the silver, bone paper was the craft of a Pilgrim, centuries-long dead. Yhoma was his name, if Xanarona's memory served her right and she admired him sort of. They were alike in their creative endeavours, betterments to Krakas. Of course, when Xanarona had built the only Steelhouse in all of the Belt and possibly all of Krakas, she saw to it that Yhoma’s work with the bone paper was also refined. Hence, the subtle pride in seeing it used for the records. On fisrt loook, there was an obvious problem with the records. It had no log of the uses of bartered items. A rule that Xanarona had approved, no, written, in her past life when she was Empress. There had been a reason for it. Xanarona promulgated it under the Redundancy Trade Rule. A rule so important that she still recalled the wording:

  For materials, items, or delegates bartered in one mass, there should be no retrading exceeding two times.

  And in enforcement, she had further written:

  Materials, items or delegates bartered in one mass must be recorded thusly. A good account of the amount bartered, the value for which it was exchanged and the uses of such bartered goods must be therewith produced. An auditor from the Drafts is empowered to supervise such accounts once every star.

  Xanarona’s little rule was to prevent the overtrading of goods. Before the War of the Belts, the policies guarding the wealth of the Silver Belt suffered from this overtrading. There was no accountability for goods exchanged, so Houses exchanged on a whim so much so that many items lost their value. With this rule if any item was found to be bartered more than twice, it incurred the Empire seizing it for herself and the House being punished. The Houses were compelled to use the materials they traded. Xanarona kept the Houses accountable, like no Emperor or Empress had before her.

  Dorren entered then, Hedwig in tow behind her.

  “Dam.” Dorren bowed. “You summoned me.” She dressed closer to Edxine than any other person did in House Loran. A fitting coat with collars zipped at the neck.

  “House Bandaggaile's transaction records don't specify uses of traded materials? Why?” Xanarona went straight to business.

  “It isn't a requirement.”

  “It was a requirement under my grandmother's rule.”

  “Yes, dam. Empress Xanfeil had the rule repealed. It was too tedious to record every use.”

  “Is the Empire now lazy to draft one more column for uses?”

  “It is not only that. The Avenues complained that it infringed upon so many things and so could not manage their Houses in line with the Allowance of Discretion clause. Empress Xanfeil agreed with them.”

  What is the Silver Belt turning to? Xanarona thought. She had spent her dawns modelling the best laws to allow for the growth of the Belt. But her daughter… her daughter ruled so differently. Xanarona took a breath to relieve herself of the building annoyance. Xanfeil was no longer a daughter she could scold. She instead was a mother, her mother.

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  “If there is no column for the uses of traded materials, how does the Empire ensure bartered items are used or consumed within the specified bracket?”

  “The Redundancy Trade Rule is upheld with certificates now. Certificate dates must match the records, dam.”

  “Where are the Bandaggaile certificates then?”

  “They keep their certificates, dam. We keep ours.”

  Whatever has Xanfeil changed?

  Xanarona opened more pages of the book before her. “On the third day of the sixth month, three travel baskets filled with Helobane were traded for seven seven baskets of common metals. The next day, the fourth, another three baskets of Helobane were traded for not seven but ten baskets. Why the discrepancy?”

  “There was such a debt, dam.”

  “Why isn't it reflected here?”

  “It is.” Dorren came forward and turned the pages of the book to the very last few. “Sire Edxine requires debts and liabilities to be recorded at the end. Makes it more organised, dam.”

  “Get me House Loran's certificates of trade with House Bandaggaile then. Hedwig, go help her.”

  Xanarona spent her time looking through the records but it made her so irate that there was no documentation for the uses of such items.

  Infringement on House privacy? What a nonsense excuse! She would have never allowed it.

  House Bandaggaile was the first and foremost producer of Helobane in the Silver Belt. It was a soft, malleable metal that was good to replace worn-out ones during emergencies. But there were hardly such emergencies and even if there were, terminals kept spare metals and would rather those than Helobane which could be bent almost too effortlessly. Nevertheless, Edxine was wise to have the metal in stock. His perceptive nature would do him well, especially during wars when common metals were hoarded and Helobane suddenly spiked in value. Xanarona was glad to have him on her side considering she had plans laid out for the future.

  Edxine was over seventy stars, she had learnt. He should live long, his brat Cibil isn't yet fit to handle most matters.

  She found nothing worthy of trouble with House Bandaggaile’s records and the dates matched with the dates registered in House Loran's certificate of trade. It had been a long day with nothing to show for it. Xanarona saw that even Hedwig who did not normally tire was beginning to slouch. Dorren had long since left as she had ‘other House matters to see to’, that was her excuse anyway after almost nine hours of reviewing inter-House records with Xanarona.

  Xanarona finally took the step up from her seat and waved a hand for Hedwig to follow her. Xana's memories helped her in navigating the cylinder house and after about three lifts up they were in front of a large door.

  “Wait outside.” She turned the handle of the door and entered the dark place. She found the switch for the chargers, pushed it in so that the light came on. Singing stones were hanging from the ceiling, heavy and tremendous. Four of them were around a centrepiece which was sizeably smaller. The ceiling was a labyrinth of reinforced beams holding up the stones. Xanarona walked a circle around the instrument. Perhaps if Edwin, Edxine's father, were still around, Xanarona would have played a song with him. She remembered the man, not so driven as his son but capable of managing what he had. He had also been great help in the retaking of the Drafts from the dirty Iron Belt. Something her father had been too weak to do. Xanarona was where she was because of friends and those stars before she birthed Xanfeil were ones she would never forget. She went around again in search of a mallet and found one in a cabinet. She climbed the platform beholden to the giant instrument Edwin had once played.

  Pity his son and grandson had no appreciation of it, she thought. To leave it locked away and decrepit…

  She felt the body of each of them. Then, she closed her eyes and rang a bass, mallet against stone.

  Music was her rest. And after her time with the singing stones, Hedwig escorted her to the dining hall.

  “You can leave me here. Go and eat,” she told Hedwig while she took her seat at the head of the long table.

  As Hedwig was leaving, Cibil was entering. He had a tray in his hand and perched himself opposite from her.

  As he sat he said, “I heard you were tuning the stones.”

  Xanarona paid him no mind. She munched her food without rush.

  “I know you did not ask, but the union was a brief one. I mean the ceremony. Edbeth was pregnant so I chose a quiet celebration instead of a rowdy one.”

  “Mmm.”

  “Funny story, when my sister came for the union—she came late—she didn't know what Edbeth looked like. So, she asked me about Edbeth in front of Edbeth. I led her on, told her I would take her to Edbeth then circled round the hall, just to come back to the same spot we were standing earlier. She was so embarrassed.” He laughed.

  “Mmm.”

  “You are gliding into your new role well. Does it weigh so much on you?”

  “Mmm.”

  “You don't need to pretend like you hate me, Xana.”

  Xanarona stopped chewing and set down her spoon.

  “I know you are happy that I am in union with Edbeth. You would have left me sooner if you had the chance. You only stayed because you wanted to please your mother,” he continued.

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “I don't want you to feel obliged to act a certain way in front of me because of our past.”

  She almost laughed. “Do you want to get back in bed with me?”

  “What? No.”

  “Then why are you troubling me?”

  Xanarona continued with her food, leaving a confused Cibil to ponder on what she had just said.

  “What happened to you? You've changed. So much.”

  “How so?” She asked, uncaring.

  “You used to speak more softly. You are angrier. And I don't know why.”

  “Is that all?”

  “You hated tying your hair up,” Cibil said matter-of-factly. “You used sire when speaking to my father. You were not all about your role as Empress-designate. You would not speak of it, in fact.”

  “You are a few words from sedition.” Her voice was a cutting swing through the air.

  “What happened to you, Xana?”

  “Get out.”

  “You've changed.”

  “Get. Out.”

  He reluctantly made for the door, the usual swagger in his stride.

  “You are worthless, Cibil. You have always been worthless. And even with a child, you are still worthless,” Xanarona said calmly.

  Cibil slammed the door behind him.