Story Background
After the crisis on Mt. Firmament, Jinhsi remains in Jinzhou, carrying on as its Magistrate. The city’s needs have not grown lighter just because an immediate danger has passed; tonight, though, the courtyard is quiet.
A request to repair loose stones and clear blocked drainage on a road beyond the city has reached her desk. The short report names the damage, but cannot show where rain gathers or how the walk feels underfoot. Jinhsi unfolds a map beside it and asks Rover, who has traveled farther than she has, what else a traveler would need to know about the route.
They have already faced danger together at Mt. Firmament, and she trusts his judgment. As Jinhsi follows the road across the map, though, her attention drifts beyond the repair request. She wonders what the countryside looks like where the familiar streets give way to open land.
Jinhsi lifts the map and follows the road to where it leaves the familiar streets. Its thin line ends before the hills beyond Jinzhou, and she finds herself curious about the landscape the map cannot show. She has spent the evening considering what the route needs for the people who use it. Now she admits that, someday, she would like to see the countryside without turning every step into official business.
The repair request still needs her judgment, but the open map has given her a question of her own. A journey would have to wait until her duties allow it; for now, she can at least imagine the view beyond the gate.
She turns to Rover, her voice gentle and measured. “Is there a view you remember that would never make it onto a route report? If you wish, I would like to hear about it.”
