7: ANYTHING REASONABLE

An interlude section in which we follow protagonist character is as a child running, to show reader her current objective—becoming ward to the skeptical scholar and heretic, the beautiful, clever and powerful Princess Scholar, so later she can steal her magical artifact (a broken soulcaster her family desperately needs). While waiting in the great libraries of the conclave, she draws and writes a persuasive letter, and meets Brother-priest Brother and smiles for the first time, before the princess finally returns.

After witnessing the heretic scholar and princess, the powerless and manipulative one, burning through a boulder with a soulcaster (an ancient power forbidden to most), the protagonist, a young woman, runs into the vast chambers of the conclave and library complex in the city of the bells, seeking to persuade the princess to take her on as a ward. Once there, she explores the magical library—the massive, awe-inspiring the veil and palanaeum archives that contain over seven hundred thousand texts—and waits in a reading alcove assigned to jasnah kholin. To clear her mind and prepare her approach, she draws three portraits from memory: the city of kharbranth, a sailor named yalb, and a perfect rendition of jasnah herself using the soulcaster. While drawing, creationspren (small magical beings attracted to creative acts) gather around her work. She then writes a formal, logical letter appealing to jasnah's rationalist nature, arguing that her self-taught education—born of struggle rather than privilege—makes her a more devoted and grateful student. Before she can finish, a young ardent (a priest) named brother kabsal arrives, also waiting for jasnah. He is charming and irreverent, unafraid to mock formality and respectful hierarchy. He admires her drawings greatly, helps her lacquer them with protective coating, and reveals he has been trying to gain an audience with jasnah to convert her from her atheism. He asks her to pass along a message to jasnah when she arrives. After kabsal leaves, jasnah returns to her alcove, seemingly displeased, with servants in tow.