The eastern district of Sarai was different from the market district in smell before anything visible. The coal smoke first, and then under it the particular biting mineral sharpness of sulfur that had been burning and cooling and burning again.
The workshops appeared past the last residential buildings on the eastern street, one in a particular, a long structure with a high vent from which a thin pale thread of smoke rose and spread flat at its top was Batu's destination.
A testing ground stretched east from the workshop's rear door across open flat ground, a timber target set at distance.
Wei was at the compound storage racks when Batu came through the entrance, working a sealed ceramic container from the lower position with both hands, and he did not hurry the task because of the arrival.
