Stef whistled. “Donnae ken what ye were told, but this is it, mate. Learn to love it. That’s my counsel.”
“How does one find their way around?”
“This locality?”
“Pardon?”
“There’re ten thousand and sixty-eight localities. Yer standing in Locality Seven.”
Jesstin frowned. “How big are these localities?”
Stef sucked his teeth. “Sizes change as they please. Today, maybe it’s fifteen square miles. Tomorrow, could be forty... or four.”
“Like time.”
“Aye, like time.”
“Which localities can I find a library in?”
“Never heard of any libraries in the Infinitum.”
“There must be one,” Jesstin said. He recalled how Elloven knew. “There are signs on the road.”
Stef halted sweeping. “The Magna Annalis? It’s the cosmic archival.”
Jesstin shrugged in confusion.
“The annals of all things and all time? All men and beasts who have ever lived, every class of tree, plant, and rock? Dry as the desert, reading all tha’, I ken, worse than The Book of All Things. Only the scholars give a toss. Nothin’ like them filthy pamphlets they used to distribute in taverns, aye?”
Jesstin nodded, though he’d never needed to distribute any bawdy literature in his club. What he provided was the real thing. “Do you know where I can find it?”
“As ye said, signs on the road will point ye.”
“How far is it?”
“Does it matter? You’ve got, oh, aye, forever to find it.” Stef laughed and moved closer. “Ye donnae ken that yet, do ye? You’re never leaving this place, mate. None of us is. So take your time! Time is all we have here.” He gestured around.
But he didn’t have forever. Asking Elloven to turn around and meet him in the middle might be faster, but she couldn’t remember the exact path she’d taken or how long it had taken her. He was cynical she’d learn something useful at this Magna Annalis, but if the research kept her busy and safe, there wasn’t a better place for her to wait for him, which meant he had to travel.
“I’ve learned the ways of distance here, and if the signs can be trusted...” Stef said, gentler. “I ken you’re looking at two to three weeks, if time isn’t stingy with the daylight.”
If the signs could be trusted. If time isn’t stingy. Was anything sure in the Infinitum? “What if I needed to be there sooner?”
“What’s the rush?”
“I guess I just fucking love reading, mate.”
Stef’s eyes narrowed slightly. “The only shortcuts in the Infinitum are traps.”
“Go on.”
“Those sepulchral market fiends aren’t to be trifled with.”
“Sepulchral market?”
“Where’d you say you were from?”
Jesstin saw no reason to lie. “Riverchapel.”
