After the bell tower's old maintenance level was sealed off, the Engineering Office sent over three sets of blueprints that evening.
None of the three showed the space beneath the iron railing.
The first was the current structural plan for the bell tower. Its lowest level ended at the machinery room on the north side. The narrow staircase leading downward was drawn for only the first four steps, with "SEALED" marked at the end.
The second was the underground heating-pipe plan. The pipes went around the bell tower's foundation and connected to the boiler room on the east side. Not one led to the place where Lutia had heard four seasonal resonance echoes.
The third was the North Bank public waterway plan.
Beneath the bell tower was a gray area with no markings.
Lutia finished looking over all three drawings in order.
"There's definitely something here."
Lorne sat across the long table in the old council hall's records room, copying the blueprint numbers into the checkout ledger.
"Something being there doesn't mean it would be drawn on this particular map."
"Why not?"
"They might not have known. Or they might have known, but this map wasn't responsible for recording it."
"A structural plan isn't responsible for recording structures?"
"The current structural plan records only the parts still in use and requiring maintenance."
Lutia pointed at the gray area.
"It was still giving off heat yesterday. It was absorbing the winter resonance, too."
"Then 'out of service' needs to be investigated again."
"If it can still operate, it shouldn't disappear from the map."
Lorne looked up at her.
"A lot of things disappear from maps in a city."
"Such as?"
"Blocked-off alleyways, warehouses repurposed for something else, walls torn down without the plans being redrawn."
He paused.
"And facilities no one is responsible for maintaining anymore."
"Those don't have to be drawn either?"
"They shouldn't be omitted."
"But it happens."
"It does."
Lutia glanced once more at the unmarked gray area beneath the bell tower.
She stacked the three drawings together again.
"If it's not on the current plans, find the old ones."
"I'm looking."
Lorne set the checkout ledger aside.
There were already two clerks in the records room bringing out files related to the bell tower. The wooden shelves along the wall were crammed with thick ledgers, blueprint tubes, and document bundles tied with hemp rope. Because the shelf feet had been damp for years, several planks of varying thickness had been wedged beneath them. Whenever someone pulled a file from an upper shelf, the entire row swayed gently.
The archivist placed a gray blueprint tube on the table.
"These are all the old plans transferred from the Engineering Office. Earlier years aren't part of the engineering archives."
Lorne asked, "What about maps of the North Bank from before the city expanded?"
"The Land Registry Office."
"Records of adjustments to the old city wall?"
"The Land Registry Office, possibly the Tax Archives."
"Underground plans from when the bell tower was first built?"
The archivist gave him a look.
"If they still exist, they may be in the construction archives. The construction archives were flooded thirty years ago, and what remains still hasn't all been cataloged."
"Where are the Tax Archives?"
"The underground storage vault on the south side."
Lutia looked at her.
"Underground?"
The archivist said, "The council hall's underground vault, not the bell tower."
"Is it shown on the plans?"
"Yes."
She answered too quickly. One of the clerks moving documents nearby let out a laugh.
Lorne was already writing the numbers on a request slip.
"I want every land-use map of the North Bank from before the city's expansion toward South Bank."
The archivist frowned.
"You're investigating an underground facility. Why are you borrowing tax maps?"
"Engineering plans delete decommissioned facilities. Land maps are redrawn along with the districts. Tax maps should at least preserve how the land was divided."
"Taxes from three hundred years ago haven't been collected in ages."
"So there was no reason to redraw the old maps either."
The archivist studied him for a while, then took the request slip.
"Wait."
She headed into the archive shelves at the back.
Lutia asked, "Are tax records more reliable than engineering records?"
"Not necessarily."
"Then why look there?"
"Different departments leave behind different things."
Lorne put the three blueprints sent by the Engineering Office back into the tube.
Lutia noticed his right leg change position twice under the table. There was no stove in the records room, and damp cold seeped upward from the stone floor. The longer he sat, the slower he was to straighten his right knee.
"Do you need to move somewhere with a fire?"
"No."
"Is that a clear refusal?"
"Yes."
"I was only asking about the location. I wasn't offering to treat you."
"I know."
Lorne lowered his head and organized the checkout numbers.
"You've been asking very complete questions lately."
"Because you people sometimes refuse only half of what I ask."
"This time it's a complete refusal."
Lutia pulled out the chair beside her and sat down.
They waited for nearly half an hour.
When the archivist appeared again, she was carrying a flat wooden box wider than her chest in both arms. The edges of the lid had warped, and one of the copper clasps had broken, so it had been tied shut with thin cord instead.
"I only found four." She set the box on the table. "The oldest one can't be spread out directly. The paper's too brittle."
Lorne checked the label on the box first.
Old North Bank Tax Districts.
The four maps inside were stacked from newest to oldest.
The top one was less than a hundred years old, and its contents differed little from modern North City.
The second showed Goosebell City from before South Bank had fully taken shape. The North Bank city wall was still standing, and there was only one old wharf beside the Mist River.
The third was older still.
There was no present-day plaza around Longchime Bell Tower, and North Street had not yet been widened.
Lutia spotted the arc at once.
Centered on the bell tower, it curved around the outer edge of the North Bank, passing residences, workshops, and the old wharf before approaching the spot where the North Gate boundary stone now stood.
Lorne took out the modern city map marked with the damage dates from Chapter Six and laid it beside the old one.
The scales of the two maps differed, and the street names had long since changed.
He first located the bell tower, the riverbank, and several stone buildings that still stood, then used a folding ruler to align them one by one.
Lutia watched him shift the positions across.
The first basement to freeze early.
The dye works.
The riverside warehouse.
The North Gate boundary stone.
They all fell near the arc on the old map.
Lutia had seen that boundary with her own eyes on the modern streets.
It ran through courtyard walls and even cut through a tree. Snow accumulated on the left side, while the right held nothing but wet dead leaves.
On this three-hundred-year-old map, the line had a name.
Inside the arc, three characters had been written in faded dark-green ink.
Seasonal District.
Lutia leaned a little closer.
"These are human characters."
"Yes."
"The name wasn't left by elves."
"At least, not on this map."
Lorne continued examining the old boundary.
The houses, workshops, and warehouses within the Seasonal District were still divided according to ordinary land parcels. Only a large tract near the bell tower's foundation had no private owner's name. Beside it was written: "Public Use."
Below that was another line of tiny old writing.
Well Keeper.
"Well Keeper?" Lutia read it aloud.
Lorne didn't answer.
He first copied the two locations into his notebook.
"The fourth one."
The archivist moved the oldest map out from beneath the others along with its backing paper.
Several portions of this map's edges had crumbled away, and a large water stain spread across the center. The bell tower's location was still recognizable, but the area covered by the North Bank was smaller than on the third map.
The words "Seasonal District" were still there.
So was the old boundary.
There should originally have been a great many notes around the bell tower, but because of the water stains and peeling paper, only broken lines of ink remained.
Lutia didn't touch it.
Lorne only looked for a moment.
"There's no way to make out the underground structure."
"At least it proves the name appeared more than once," the archivist said.
Lorne nodded.
"And the Well Keeper."
The archivist looked at the tiny writing on the third map.
"It may have been an old job title."
"Can it be traced?"
"If it was a municipal position, there should be personnel records."
Lutia asked, "What well did they keep?"
No one answered.
Lorne flattened the two old maps again.
"We'll look for personnel records first."
The archivist looked at the documents already piled across the table.
"Are you planning to turn the whole records room upside down today?"
"Only the parts related to the Well Keeper."
"Then that's at least less than the whole records room."
There wasn't much reassurance in her tone.
Lorne didn't immediately request another batch of files.
First, he had the archivist place the two old tax maps in protective sleeves, then filled out a temporary investigation record. Who had removed them from the wooden box, which people had viewed them, and where they were currently stored—all of it was written down item by item.
Lutia watched him fill in the final column.
"Can we tell Greta now?"
"Send it to Marilla first."
"Why not Greta?"
"Greta is in charge of disaster investigations. This is a three-hundred-year-old land record, and it also involves land that's still in use."
"Does Marilla decide whether we can keep investigating?"
"She decides how much information the municipal departments have to provide, and she decides what can be made public right now."
Lutia glanced at the words "Seasonal District" on the table.
She didn't like the second half of that answer.
Marilla was already waiting in a meeting room on the second floor of the old council hall.
Greta was there too.
Besides the newly found tax maps, the table held the abnormal damage locations organized in the previous chapters, a copy of the bell tower duty log, and the North Gate copper conduit investigation records.
Marilla stared at the words "Seasonal District" for a long time.
"Where did you find it?"
"The old North Bank tax archives," Lorne said.
"Has anyone checked it out recently?"
"The current checkout ledger only goes back fifty years. There are no new labels on the wooden box, so we can't check anything earlier for now."
"Does the Engineering Office know about this map?"
"Not yet."
Greta leaned back in her chair.
"Sivell would probably say it's an obsolete classification."
"He might be right," Marilla said.
Lutia looked at her.
"An obsolete classification wouldn't make snow stop along the same line."
"The boundary on the map is close to the anomalies we're seeing now," Marilla said. "That makes it worth investigating. But calling it the Seasonal District three hundred years ago doesn't mean we know what that name referred to at the time."
"The residents don't know the city used to record this line."
"They don't know that now, either."
"You don't plan to tell them?"
"We're not making this map public yet."
"Why?"
Marilla rested her hand on the edge of the protective sleeve.
"Because we know only three things: this map exists, it says Seasonal District, and its boundary is close to the anomalous locations we've found so far."
"That's already a lot."
"But it's not enough to answer the questions that come after."
"What questions?"
"Is the Seasonal District an administrative name, an engineering designation, or something else? What was the Well Keeper keeping? Is the sealed space beneath the bell tower part of the same system as what's shown on this map?"
Marilla pointed to another bell tower record.
"Right now, we don't have an answer to any of them."
Lutia stood beside the table.
"If we don't know, can't we say so?"
"We can say that we're investigating an underground anomaly," Marilla said. "We can't hand over an unconfirmed name and purpose together and let someone else fill in the answers for us."
"The people of North City are already suffering the consequences."
"I know."
"They don't even know why it's snowing only on their side."
Marilla didn't look away from her.
"Today's disaster notice will add one item: the city is investigating an old facility beneath the bell tower that isn't included on the current plans, along with several low-temperature records from before the official snowfall began."
Lutia waited a moment.
"It won't say Seasonal District."
"Not yet."
"What about the Well Keeper?"
"Not until we find out what the position entailed."
Greta asked, "Does the investigation continue as usual?"
"As usual, and expanded."
Marilla pushed an authorization form toward Lorne.
"The Disaster Affairs Office may access old land registry, tax, personnel, and bell tower records; it may require the Engineering Office to submit structural plans, safety inspections, and key logs for the sealed underground level; and Lutia may identify seasonal resonance echoes under supervision."
She turned to the second page.
"The bell tower's old maintenance level remains sealed. Until the structural and evacuation assessments are complete, no one may enter the deeper area, and no one may dismantle that door on their own."
Greta asked, "Who will conduct the structural assessment?"
"The Engineering Office and one stonemason unaffiliated with the Engineering Office will sign it jointly."
"Will Sivell be involved?"
"He's the chief hydrothermal engineer. At this stage, we can't exclude him outright. But his judgment can't take effect on its own."
Lorne accepted the authorization.
"Can we search the personnel records now?"
"Yes."
Marilla glanced again at "Well Keeper" on the tax map.
"If it was an official position, there should at least be appointment or payroll records."
The personnel files were stored on another floor of the records room.
Unlike the engineering plans, the personnel archives were organized by position, not by building or district.
Lorne searched "well affairs" first.
Nothing.
He searched "water affairs," "bell tower," and the index of abolished public offices. Still, he found no file directly connected to the Well Keeper.
Lutia sat at another table, flipping through an index of old job titles.
The writing on the pages was much smaller than that in current municipal documents. Many positions had strikethroughs after them. Some included the new departments formed after mergers; others had nothing but a name and no description of their duties.
When she reached the second half of the book, she saw a line partly obscured by an ink stain.
Well Keeper—see Special Public Property Positions.
"Lorne."
He pulled the index toward him.
"Where are the Special Public Property Positions?" Lutia asked.
The archivist beside them looked up and pointed to the highest wooden shelf.
"The gray-bound books. That category was discontinued long ago."
Lorne brought over a step ladder.
When his right leg reached the third step, he paused and shifted his weight onto his left foot.
Lutia went to the ladder and held its feet in place.
"Does this count as assistance?"
"It does."
"You didn't make a formal request."
Lorne looked down at her.
"I'm formally requesting that you hold the ladder now."
"I accept."
Lutia steadied it with both hands.
Lorne pulled down two gray-bound books from the highest shelf.
The first recorded bell ringers, waterway markers, and public warehouse keepers. The second had no title on its cover. Inside, it listed a series of abolished positions by year.
The Well Keeper appeared in the middle.
The names, terms of service, and salaries of several predecessors were still there. Beside some names was a note that they had been transferred; others had retired, and one had died while in office.
The final line read:
Auderic Kann.
Position: Well Keeper.
Employment status: Suspended.
The notes column contained only a short line.
No date. No reason.
"What does suspended mean?" Lutia asked.
Lorne checked how the previous entries were worded.
"It doesn't look like an ordinary separation record."
"Then the position was suspended?"
"Possibly."
He turned to the next page.
The page was missing.
Beside the binding, only neat tear marks remained, with a small scrap of paper still stuck near the top.
Lorne checked the page numbers.
The missing page was the one that should have continued Auderic's entry.
The next page had already switched to a different abolished position.
Lutia didn't reach out to touch it.
"It doesn't look like it was torn out recently."
The archivist came over and examined the edge of the paper.
"The tear has yellowed along with the other pages."
She went to retrieve the missing-page register.
The page wasn't listed in it.
"Are there copies?" Lorne asked.
"The appointment and dismissal documents might have them."
"Payroll records?"
"The old financial archives."
"Personnel cards?"
"That batch was scattered during the municipal relocation. No guarantee they're all still there."
Lorne first recorded the location of the missing page, its number, and the scrap of paper that remained, then filled out an archival anomaly form.
Lutia looked at the name in the book.
Auderic Kann.
"Could he still be alive?"
Lorne checked the years of his service again.
"It's possible."
"If he is, can we find him?"
"First we'll look for the appointment and dismissal documents, payroll records, and old personnel card."
"What if those are missing too?"
"They aren't kept in the same place."
"So humans write multiple copies for that reason?"
"That's one reason."
Lutia glanced at the name again.
"If we find him, we can ask what was beneath the bell tower."
"We can ask."
"He can refuse."
"He can."
Lutia thought for a moment.
"Then we'll start by asking whether he's willing to answer."
Lorne closed the gray-bound book.
Auderic Kann's name still remained in the city's records.
The page describing how he left the position of Well Keeper had already been torn away.