The sea came up out of the plain the way the ash came up out of the mountain: quietly, with the hand not closed.

Thal-Auren was the fourth city, and it was built on the sea. The sea was the storm, the storm was the Fourth Ember, the Fourth was the fleet, and the fleet was what the Pyre had.

The five reached the sea on the tenth day out of Veranthe, on the road the Pyre had named.

They did not walk the Fourth Ember to the city. It was at the sea, in the storm, and the fleet did the rite there. The Pyre held the command, and the command was the name.

The fleet-commander of Thal-Auren was a woman named Brayne, and the Pyre had not named her. The not-naming was the sea, and the sea was the storm, and the storm was the Fourth Ember.

Brayne had been, in the capital, the Pyre's fleet: four hundred ships, and the four hundred ships were the Blackenings, and the Blackenings were four days away.

The five met Brayne at the first anchor of the sea, where the water was the color of the road.

"You run the fleet," Brayne said to Liora. Her voice was not a door; it was the road. "I carried your father's word at the siege of the Ashlands. The word was the banner over the two thousand on the mountain, and the two thousand are what Vaerun was."

"You ran the fleet," Liora said to Brayne. "Four hundred ships. They are the Blackenings, and the Blackenings are what the rite needs. The rite is the killing."

"The Fourth Ember," Brayne said to the five, "is in the storm, and the storm is the rite. The fleet does it. The Pyre had the doing. The having was the command."

"We will give you the Fourth Ember," Ashe said to Brayne. The road did the saying, and the road walked. "Keep it in the anchor until we come back. The sea is the storm, and the storm is what the rite needs. The rite is the Blackenings."

"Why will you give me the Fourth Ember," Brayne said. "The fleet does not do the giving. The not-doing was what the Pyre had. The having was the command."

"Because the Fourth Ember is the storm," Liora said to Brayne. "The storm is the sea, the sea is the anchor, the anchor is the four hundred ships, and the four hundred ships are the Blackenings."

Brayne took the Fourth Ember. The fleet did the taking. The Pyre held the command.

The letter did not say the name — the not-saying, the reading, the Office in the capital, under the Vault, under the Harvest, under the cup. The cup was dry.

---

The five stayed at the anchor for two days, and on the second night the storm-rite of Thal-Auren was, the four hundred ships doing it, the four hundred ships that were the Blackenings.

The rite was this: the fleet of the sea, at the anchor, with the Fourth Ember in the middle of them.

The storm came up out of the sea the way the sea came up out of the plain.

And the Fourth Ember, in the middle of the fleet, sang the way the First had sung at the bottom of the water, in the cistern of Mourne-ash. The empire was afraid of the singing.

In the burning the storm is the sky, and the sky is the feeding, and the feeding is not the ending. The not-ending is the first of the stars. The stars are the dark. The dark is starving. The starving is what the hoard did. The doing was ten thousand years before the counting. The counting is what the empire did. The doing was the burning.

The fleet is what the Pyre has. The having is the command, and the command is the name. The name is what the letter does not say, because the not-saying is the reading, and the reading is the Office.

Do not trust the anchor. The anchor is the four hundred ships, and the four hundred ships are the Blackenings. The Blackenings are what the rite needs. The rite is the killing.

The dream let her go. The going was the two days, and the two days were the storm's.

---

On the third morning, the fleet left the anchor with the Fourth Ember, into the Blackenings, three days away.

The five watched the fleet go out of the anchor.

"The fleet is faster than the road," Yrren said to the five at the anchor. "The road is the five. The five are the three embers. The three are the keeping, and the keeping is not the ash's. The Fourth is the fleet, and the fleet is the storm, and the storm is the Blackenings."

"Then the Fourth Ember goes with the fleet," Corvin said to the sea, the way the door said things. "The fleet is the Blackenings. The Blackenings are what the rite needs. The rite is the killing."

"Then the First Ember falls," Ashe said. Her voice was not a door; it was the road. "The First is not the fleet. The First is the cistern. The cistern is the water, and the water moves."

"No," Liora said to the sea, with the chisel in the hand that was not closed. "The First Ember falls because the Fourth has fallen. The Fourth is in the fleet's hands. The hands are the name, and the name is what the letter does not say."

The five walked out of the anchor on the third morning. The Fourth Ember went out with the fleet, into the Blackenings, under the command, under the name, under the letter's not-saying, under the Office.

The Office was the capital, the Vault, the Harvest, the cup. The cup was dry.

---

Pellin wrote that night, on the far side of the fire of the road.

The Fourth Ember is with the fleet. The fleet is what Brayne commands. The command is the name, and the name is what the Pyre knows. The knowing is the rite, and the rite is the killing. The five are walking to the Grey Quiet, and the Fifth Ember is there, and the Fifth is the silence. The Blackenings are three days away.

The Fifth Ember, if it is to be taken, will be taken by the Grey Quiet. The Grey Quiet is the mind, and the mind is the spymasters. The spymasters are what the Pyre does. The doing was the rite.

The letter went up on the back of a rider the road did not name. The not-naming was the keeping.

---

In the burning the Fourth Ember is the fleet, and the fleet is the name. The name is what the letter does not say. The not-saying is the reading, and the reading is the Office. The Office is the capital, the capital is the Vault, the Vault is the Harvest, and the Harvest was the cup. The cup is dry. The dry is what the rite needs. The rite is the killing, and the killing is the Long Night. The Night is the sky, and the sky is the first of the new stars.

The fleet is faster than the road. The faster is what the Fourth Ember falls. The falling is what the anchor did not do. The not-doing was the storm. The storm is the Fourth Ember. The Fourth is the Blackenings, and the Blackenings are what the rite needs.

— Dream-Ledger, entry of the third night out of Thal-Auren, written by Ashe Wren on the road to the Grey Quiet, the index of the name the letter did not say, and the fleet that was faster than the road