Location:Obsidian Academy — The Old Armory
Date/Time:6 Ashwhisper, 9942 AZI — Later
Realm:Lower Realm
"And the first entry in either column is retrospective," Jayde said, "and it goes to the nine hundred."
The room changed temperature in a way that had nothing to do with the forges.
"Their families have them," Meifen said. "The bodies. We brought them home."
"Their families have a box and a road and nothing written down. Nobody outside four provinces knows what any of them did, and in ten years nobody inside them will either." Jayde kept her voice flat because it was the only way to get through it. "So it is written down, and it is the first thing this force ever does officially, before a single recruit swears anything. Every name. What they held and where. Signed by whoever is sitting in my chair on the day, in perpetuity, and read out loud once a year for as long as the institution exists."
"That is a lot of years," Ryo said.
"That is the point of it."
