Svenna rushed toward the Oscillaria with a set of calculations. The Mystress had presented them to her that morning and asked that Svenna take them to Master Udo immediately.

The Master of the Pendulum and the Mystress of the Chimes worked together closely, for they both focused their mathematical calculations on the arc swing of the pendulum of the Ice Clock.

Svenna listened closely as she made her way through the maze of ice corridors. She had learned that sound could be warped or distorted, allowing her to overhear conversations as she had near the Stellata Chamber. She was surprised that no other bears had discovered this peculiarity. Even whispers could be overheard, and she’d begun to think of these places as the whisper bends.

“More defections near the Nunqua ice shelf region.” The words of two whispering Roguers seemed to fall directly into her ears.

Nunqua ice shelf, Svenna thought. That was where she and her cubs had come from.

“How’s our agent doing there?”

“She’s good. A bit impulsive. She’s proving better as an administrator than a tracker.”

“What about the double agent, Nicco? Didn’t he help one of her victims escape?”

“Yes, the Yinqui, but the Roguers got him.”

Yinqui … like Svern. Panic surged through Svenna, panic with an edge as sharp as a blade. The one who escaped—could it have been Svern? Could he have somehow escaped?

She tried to slow her steps. She wanted to hear more, but the two bears were approaching, and as they came closer, their voices began to fade. They had passed the point that warped sound.

Svenna was so preoccupied that she nearly missed the turnoff for the Oscillaria. She came to a sudden stop by the entrance, which was guarded by a prefect.

“Your purpose?” he barked.

“I’m delivering a set of calculations from the Mystress of the Chimes to Master Udo, Master of the Pendulum.”

“I must examine them first.”

“They are sealed, sir. Triple sealed.”

“Let her through,” Master Udo snapped from his seat at a high desk from which he could observe all who came and left the Oscillaria’s ice gates. “I’ll open the calculations.”

Svenna walked up to the high desk and presented the scroll of sealscap to the Master of the Pendulum. He reached down and took them from her with a trembling paw. This struck her as odd, as Master Udo was not an old bear.

“Report to the Mystress of the Chimes that I shall have the final derivations back to her in six hours, twenty-five minutes, fourteen seconds, and three milliseconds.”

“Yes, Master Udo.” Svenna nodded and withdrew from the Oscillaria.

She returned to the Mystress of the Chimes’s apartments and was about to knock on the door to her library, but Svenna stopped short when she heard odd muffled whining sounds. These strange mewling cries were not like any sound a bear would ever make, more like a small wounded animal’s. The creature was sobbing. Was it another seal pup giving his blood for the Mystress’s lustrous pelt?

Svenna retreated to the receiving den in the Mystress’s quarters. A few minutes later, the Mystress came in, crisp, calm, and imperious—her usual demeanor.

“When did you get back?” the Mystress demanded.

“Just three seconds and two milliseconds ago,” Svenna lied.

“Good!” Was there a dim light of relief in the bear’s tawny eyes? Had she never noticed before how golden the Mystress’s eyes really were?

“Yes, ma’am. Master Udo says that he will have the calculations back to you in six hours, twelve minutes, twelve seconds, and two milliseconds.”

The Mystress sniffed. “Excellent. Now please scrape the floor in here, as I expect visitors later and I noticed that the ice is rough.” She scraped the floor lightly with her foot. “Following that, go to my harmonics lab. There are some final equations that must be prepared for the Grand Patek to review.” Without another word, she swept out of the den.

The ice floor in the Mystress’s receiving den was indeed quite untidy, and it took Svenna a good while—or one hour, two minutes, and thirty-five seconds—to restore it to the pristine finish that the Mystress’s fastidious nature demanded.

Svenna finally made her way to the harmonics lab and took her place on the bench to figure out the calculations. As she took out a fresh piece of sealscap to place on the tablet, she noticed that the marks from the previous calculations that the Mystress had worked on were still visible. This batch of sealscap was especially thin and the impressions from bone sliver used as a marker were often left on the tablet.

“What in the world,” she murmured to herself. These were not exactly equations but rather a confusing jumble of mathematical symbols that seemed to signify nothing. Were these the calculations that Svenna had delivered to Master Udo in the Court of the Pendulum?

Cube roots danced across the ice with square roots. Cosines mingled with plus and minus symbols in a nonsensical manner. Parentheses were scattered helter-skelter throughout. It began to dawn on Svenna that these were not calculations, not formulas, not equations, but a code! A code through which perhaps she was communicating with Master Udo. Was that what Svenna had delivered to him hours before? What secrets did it hold?