Book One – Chapter 19

So while one half howled to throw himself from the platform into Albweiss teeth, and the other burned to throw itself at the ‘s feet and fall once more into her voice, the mask drove his body forward, into the kitchen.

The door swung close behind the new Yu.

And there he stood, masked and alone amidst the blackened pots and bowls and the horrible paintings leering down from the walls.

It was strange. It felt wrong.

To be here. Alone.

All by himself.

In this vast room.

There was so much going on around him, and within him, yet nothing moved in here. Things just stood around.

So did Yu.

At last his eyes stirred, hesitant, searching for the right way to surface through the haze. He focussed on the wide hearth first. It was the only thing here that still breathed sound, though faintly. One of the two pots squatted heavy above the metal grid that glowed but no longer showed flames. From there, his gaze dove across the room, left to right. The kitchen was rectangular, dominated by the two long tables that made one central workbench. Cupboards, racks and tools clung to the walls all around, with the two obscene portraits hanging above. There were no alcoves, no shadows to vanish into, no sudden recesses. The whole room lay exposed before him.

Yu moved. Slowly, he walked around the workbench. He did a full circle; going right first, then all the way round. As he did, he started and stopped with almost every step. With every pause, he checked corners that did not exist, and bent to peer beneath the workbench several times. The motions were absurd, but necessary. It made no sense, but at the same time, he needed to do it. He needed to make sure, from every perspectives and every angle, that no one else was in the room with him. He needed to see, because his ears still offered nothing, not even the ordinary breath of a room. They found only the quiet rest of old fire, as Yu again approached the hearth. There he halted, with the door now at his left side.