When Bai Jin reached the Papal Hall, Hu Liena was dragging an old iron chest up the steps.
Half the bottom had worn through, but the papers inside were wrapped in three layers of oilcloth. She refused the guards' help and did not straighten up until she reached the door. Two fresh cuts from the metal marked her palm. Bai Jin crouched, lifted with one hand, and raised the chest half a foot off the ground.
"If you'd come a quarter hour earlier, I'd have lost one less layer of skin."
"Next time, write this on the chest: Official Documents belonging to the Pope's disciple. The disciple herself is forbidden to carry them."
Hu Liena wiped her hands on her outer robe and let his joke pass. The chest came from the empire's Old Medicine Vault. The vault had moved three times, but the account number on the chest matched the receipts Bibi Dong had given her. Yesterday, she had traced a payment: Bai Jin had long since killed the man who paid it, while the vault that received it still stood in Spirit City.
Bai Jin set the chest in the Council Chamber and opened it. On top lay a Master Inventory with blackened corners.
Bibi Dong sat at the far end of the long table, with no purple mist beside her. The old accounts that had once made her suffer a backlash lay at her elbow. She had copied the names she crossed out onto a separate page. Qian Renxue had arrived before Bai Jin. A thread of pale gold occasionally flashed beneath the hem of her left trouser leg. She walked as usual, though her Leg Armor was still incomplete.
"Leg stopped hurting?" Bai Jin asked.
"Not when I walk. If you're going to mention kicking you