Act IV — The Sleeping Water

Page 22 — Uaellaen's Decision

I said it at the water's edge, alone.

I will say that in the plain voice, because the record is owed the alone: the water's edge is where the archmage says the thing the camp is owed before the camp hears it, and the before was the alone's part in the saying. I went to the water's edge the way I go to the water's edge — the water in front of me, the coast behind me, and the craft under the ribs where the craft goes. The morning was the morning of the fourth day, and the fourth day was the one the camp owed the decision: the argument the previous page kept at the fire, and the keeping was the fire's part in the evening, and the evening had not given the camp the decision. The four sayings were still in the fire — Rumzuck's go, Wreckreate's go-but-east, Zahlia's stay, Smackage's not-yet — and the four sayings were the camp's part in the waiting.

The water took the morning the way the water takes everything on this coast — without looking up, and the without-looking-up was the water's part in the alone.

I stood at the line where the water comes in, and the standing was the archmage's part in the morning. The water went in and out at the line with the sound it has when the wind is not here, and the sound was the water's part in the saying — not the old world's sound, and the not-old-world's-sound was the thing the fourteenth page had found to be a copy of the flowing. I put the shape of the argument in the craft, and the putting was the one the craft owed the water's edge: the shape with the place in it that did not fit, the place the kept place gave it, and the not-fitting was the shape's part in the saying. I held the shape the way I hold the shape — with the craft under the ribs, and the holding was the archmage's part in the alone.

I said it to the water first.

The water did not answer. The water is not a god, and the not-a-god is the thing the water owes the record: the thirteenth page found the gods here and not answering, and the water's not-answering was the water's part in the world. But the water took the saying the way the water takes everything — without looking up, and the taking was the one the water did not let go of. The saying went out over the black sand, and the going-out was the saying's part in the morning: the nameless part of it, the part that was not yet the camp's part, and the not-yet was the water's part in the alone. I said it to the water the way the old world's archmage said the thing to the water's edge — with the craft under the ribs and the record in the keeping, and the two were the whole of the archmage's part in the alone.

And I will tell you what I said to the camp, which was the same thing in the plain voice:

We stay. We build. And we send, in turn, two of us east, by the water, on the fourth day and the ninth and the fourteenth, and the sending is the finding, and the finding is the keeping.

The saying was short. I will say that in the plain voice, because the record is owed the short: three parts in the saying — the stay, the build, and the send, and the three parts were the decision's part in the camp. We stay, and the staying was the part Zahlia's stay kept for the camp — the camp that does not move, the camp the Veil does not read the way the Veil reads the camp that moves. We build, and the building was the part the camp owed the camp — the walls, the hearth, the ground that is theirs — and the part was the one the next page after this one keeps. And we send, in turn, two of us east, by the water — the sending was the part Rumzuck's go and Wreckreate's east kept for the camp, and the two parts were the sending's part in the saying. On the fourth day and the ninth and the fourteenth, and the three days were the one the camp kept for the sending: the turn, and the turn was the thing the camp owed the lost — the sending that does not stop, and the not-stopping was the whole of the sending's part in the finding.

The sending is the finding, and the finding is the keeping.

The two is were the whole of the saying's part in the camp. The sending is the finding, and the being-the-finding was the one the camp owed the lost: the two of us who go east by the water are the finding, and the finding was the sending's part in the camp. The finding is the keeping, and the being-the-keeping was the one the camp owed the kept place: the finding that keeps the one who is not here in the finding, and the keeping was the finding's part in the camp. The three parts of the saying were the camp's part in the decision — the stay that keeps the camp, the build that keeps the place, the send that keeps the finding, and the three keepings were the whole of the decision's part in the camp.

I said it to the fire first, before I said it to the others.

The fire is the one thing in the wrong world that does not answer back, and the not-answering-back was the fire's part in the camp. I went to the fire the way I go to the fire — the craft under the ribs, the saying in the keeping, and the two were the archmage's part in the fire. I said it to the fire in the plain voice, the way the water's edge had the saying in it, and the saying went out over the fire the way the saying went out over the water — the smoke took it, and the taking was the fire's part in the alone. The fire did not answer back, and the not-answering-back was the one place I can say a thing and keep it: the fire holds the saying the way the fire holds everything, and the holding was the fire's part in the keeping. The fire is the one thing the wrong world does not read back — the Veil reads back, and the reading-back was the Veil's part in the world; the water reads, and the reading was the one the water keeps for the water-reader; but the fire does not read, and the not-reading was the fire's part in the camp.

Then I said it to the camp.

I said it at the fire, in the plain voice, the way the camp says a thing that is going to be the camp's part in the day — not louder, not softer, not the way the old world said a thing that was going to be the whole of the camp's part in the day. The five of us were around the fire the way the five of us were around it on the evening of the argument — Rumzuck at the place the ogre keeps, Smackage on the ground where the ground's part of the camp is, Wreckreate at the water's line, Zahlia a little back from the fire, and me at the fire where the craft's part of the camp is. The kept place was where the kept place goes — by the fire, set a little back from the light, and the back-from-the-light was the one the camp had not moved since the white.

The four of them took the saying the way the fire takes wood.

I will say that in the plain voice, because the record is owed the taking: Rumzuck's hands were folded over the grip, and the folded was the ogre's part in the taking — the ogre who said go had the go in the saying, and the having was the ogre's part in the camp. Wreckreate stood at the water's line with his hands at his sides, and the standing was the water-reader's part in the taking — the east was in the saying, and the having-east was the one the water did not let go of. Zahlia's hands were a little raised, and the a-little-raised was the Veil's part in the taking — the stay was in the saying, and the having-stay was the Veil's part in the camp. Smackage's palm was flat on the ground, and the flat was the ground's part in the taking — the not-yet was past, and the past-not-yet was the ground's part in the camp. The four of them took it, and the taking was the camp's part in the decision, and the part was the one the fire held while the camp took it.

A camp that does not look for its lost is not a camp.

That is the whole of the decision, and I want the record to be careful that it is the whole of it. The careful is the one the record owes the decision — the decision that is the whole of the camp's part in the finding, and the being-the-whole was the thing I did not let the camp argue with. The staying and the finding are the same thing, and the same was the whole of the decision's part in the camp: a camp that stops looking stops staying, and the not-staying was the one the camp did not owe the world — a camp that stops looking is a camp the world has finished with, and the being-finished-with was the world's part in the camp. The camp that looks is the camp that stays, and the staying was the one the camp owed the finding.

The decision was the one I have kept since the water's edge.

The keeping is the archmage's part in the camp, and the part was the camp's part in the decision. The fourth day is the one the sending kept for the camp — the two of us east, by the water, and the east was the one the water and the ground gave the camp on the third morning. The ninth and the fourteenth are the ones the sending kept for the camp, and the three days were the sending's part in the camp. The decision is in the fire, and the being-in-the-fire was the one the fire does not let go of — the fire that does not answer back, the fire that keeps the saying the way the fire keeps everything, and the keeping was the morning of the fourth day, and the morning was the one the camp kept for the decision.