What’s new in the Mall is a matter of perspective, but the Girl’s fairly certain that the only perspective that really matters is hers. And to her, the door is new. She remembers coming down the corridor, not ten minutes ago, on her way to the roof, running her fingers along the glossy white walls…

The old folk know why the rains are so heavy that year. The god of the river is angry. He appeared to a group of farmers at the ford to the north, blue-faced and bleary-eyed, and said they’d allowed the Gauravayan army to cross His sacred way in the spring without offering the proper sacrifices. As punishment, he will swell and rage and let no-one cross. The farmers offered him a goat but he asked what use a river god has for a goat. They offered him a bowl of milk, and he said the same.