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The scent co from the case is familiar, a memory, but I can’t place it at first My heart beats a bit er; unexpected, out of place And then I know

"It’s chocolate," I say

"Yes," she says "When was the last time you had any?"

"My Match Banquet," I say

"Of course," she says She closes the case and reaches for another and opens it I see glints of silver that at first I think are boxes from Banquets but instead are forks, knives, spoons Then another case, this one handled even ently than the others, and inside I see pieces of china, bone white and fragile as ice Then we reen and blue and white stones, and over again to another rohere she takes out books with pictures so rich and beautiful I have to hold es

There is so much wealth in here Even if I wouldn’t trade for silver or chocolate, I understand why someone else would

"Before the Society," the head Archivist says, "people used to use reen papers They’d trade it with each other and it represented different things"

"How did it work?" I ask

"Say I was hungry," the Archivist says "I’d give soive me some food"

"But then ould they do with the papers?"

"Use the else," she says

"Did they have things written on the like your poems"

I shakethe way the Archivists do seeical

"They trusted each other," the Archivist says "Until they didn’t anymore"

She waits I’m not sure what she expectsyou," the Archivist says, "are the things that most people find to be valuable And we also have cases and cases full of very specific ite this for a long time" She leads me back the e came, to the rohere the jeere stored She stops for a moment to take down a case She doesn’t open it, but carries it with her as alk "Everyone has a currency," she says "One of the e, when people want to know things, not possess them Of course, what people want to know is a similarly varied and intricate business" She stops near the end of one of the shelves "What is it you want to know, Cassia?"

I want to know if ht What Grandfather arden day What memories I’ve lost

A pause, in that decadent, deliberate roo slants and glints of light in strange places Her face, when I can see it, looks thoughtful "Do you knohat’s extreht now?" she asks me "Those tubes that the Society had, the secret ones Have you heard of the before the Final Banquet?"

"I’ve heard of them," I say I’ve seen them, too All rowed and stored in a cave in the middle of a canyon While ere there in that cave, Hunter broke some of the tubes, and Eli and I each stole one of the others

"You’re not the only one who has," the head Archivist says "Soet their hands on those samples"

"The tubes don’tKy, and I hope the Archivist can’t hear the lie inand gave it to Ky to hide, and I did that because I can’t seeo of the idea that those tubes could matter

"That ree with you They want their own sa to faue, they’ll want the tubes even ue "Is that possible?" I wonder, but the minute I speak it I know it is Death is always possible I learned that in the Carving

Al my mind, the Archivist asks, "You’ve seen the tubes, haven’t you? When you were outside the Society?"

For so about, yes, I have seen that, with rows and rows of tubes stored neatly in the earth I have also seen a cave full of papers, and golden apples on dark trees twisted froreat wind and little rain, and s on stone

And in the Carving I have seen burned bodies under the sky and aher arms and his with blue I have felt life in that place, and I have seen death

"You didn’t bring back any of those tubes to trade, did you?" she asks me

How much does she know? "No," I say

"That’s too bad," she says

"What would people trade for the tubes?" I ask

"Everyone has souarantee anything except that the saht person We don’t pro anyone back"