On the fourth day after leaving Cold Pine Pass, Qian Renxue received a golden wooden box in the Papal Hall.
The side hall's door stood open.
Two deacons saw her and Bai Jin ascend the stone steps and stepped aside without going in to announce them. Qian Renxue paused at the door, her fingers brushing its edge.
The black scorch mark from last time had been repaired. The new wood grain was a shade lighter than the rest.
Bai Jin leaned out from behind her.
"No need to knock this time?"
"Disappointed?"
"I just thought I knocked quite politely that night."
Qian Renxue pushed the door open and went in.
Bibi Dong was reviewing the final case file sent back from Cold Pine Pass. Luo Jun's Soul Power had been sealed, and he had been escorted to the Military Tribunal in Spirit City. All twelve crossbowmen involved in the ambush had been identified, and the three officers who had falsified the accounts had confessed where the stolen winter rations and medicinal supplies had gone.
She turned to the last page and wrote her decision beside the words "return for joint hearing."
"Proceed as written."
Bai Jin pulled out a chair beside the desk and sat down.
"That's what I said."
"Then your trip wasn't wasted."
"Can I get some time off?"
"There are seven more passes on the northern line."
Bai Jin leaned back, as though he had suddenly lost all interest in speaking.
Qian Renxue laid the newly surveyed border map beside the case file.
"Blue Lightning has agreed to inspect the boundary markers every three months. Each side will bring ten people, and neither may cross the buffer zone. Hu Liena will oversee the inspection of Cold Pine Pass's armory for now, Xie Yue will reorganize the patrols,