Chapter 22: Both Halves

Sera Quill came back down Cooper's Stair at the grey end of the third night. Hobb Sayer walked a step behind her, a stooped man in a brown coat with a stick he did not seem to use, and she carried a drawing of the brace rolled under one arm like a bar. Ilan was under the western pier with an oak wedge against his shoulder when the lad with the flags ran down the ramp. He went up to the barricade with the grit still on his hands. She stood on the far side of the bars and did not ask to be let in. "I said I would not explain a refusal twice," she said. "I have not come to explain. This is Hobb Sayer. He has built bridges for forty years. He will look at your shelf." "And his fee?" "Forty silver, for the look and the…