THE PYRE LIBRARY

The reading rooms of the Pyre Library, where everything burned arrives, as they open into Pan.

The Pyre Library

READING ROOMS // PAN // THE ROOMS KEEP NO HOURS

Nothing burned is lost.

NOTICEThe parishes’ papers are read aloud at the long table at the turn of Matins, in a Deacon’s voice, by whoever asks first.

THE CATALOGUE // PAPERS OF NODUS

HEARTH // P118 // G13 // 1The Order for the Supper
FORM
Rite, in the parish hand, with a leaf of names
ARRIVED
The Gleaning of P+13, from a house's hearth in Parish 118, Zion Heights
CONDITION
Whole. Two hands.
The rite the parishes keep at home on the night of a Gleaning, which they call the Supper, written in the parish hand. A house of the Wakeful kept its page of names on the last leaf of its copy and burned the book with the page on the night, as the Wakeful burn the names of those who walk out.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
THE ORDER FOR THE SUPPER OF THE LAMB
AS IT IS KEPT IN THE HOUSES OF THE PARISHES
WRITTEN IN THE PARISH HAND
```
BLESSED ARE THEY WHICH ARE CALLED.
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).
OF THE DAYS BEFORE
When a soul of the house passes nine hundred, the Deacon chalks its name on the ripening board among the Called, and the house hangs a white cloth in its doorway, that the street may know it is blessed.
From that day the Called are given no work and asked for no word. Their portion is set before them at every Hour and taken away at the next, and given to the embers of the parish at Lauds.
If the Called weep, it is a want, and the house shall sing over them until it is given up.
IN ANOTHER HANDCold water if she nods. Keep her chin up. Keep her face to the street.
OF THE COAT
Past eight hundred the Called wear the last coat, every button cut from it. On the eve of the Supper the house shall sew it shut at the back upon them, with white thread and without a knot, for nothing of theirs is to be undone again.
At Compline the eldest of the house shall wrap them in the sheet over the coat, once round, and tuck the end in, and tie nothing.
OF THE EVENING
At Vespers the Called go down to the hall, where the long tables are laid with a plate for every soul of the parish that has gone up and nothing on any plate, and they sit among the plates, and are looked upon, and come home.
On the threshold the Called shall break the loaf they carried home from Leaven, and eat none of it, and the house shall gather the pieces and burn them at Compline, that nothing of the Supper be kept.
OF THE WATCH
From Compline the Called kneel on the threshold with their faces to the street, and the house kneels behind them. Nobody shall stand between the Called and the light.
The house shall keep them awake with the hymns of the Hours, softly, from Compline to Matins, that they be taken at their brightest.
IN ANOTHER HANDLouder. She hears the street.
THE WORDS
At Matins the eldest of the house asks, the Called answer, and the house answers last.
THE ELDESTWho is called?
THE CALLEDI am called.
THE ELDESTTo what?
THE CALLEDTo the marriage supper of the Lamb.
THE ELDESTAs a guest, or as the bread?
THE CALLEDAs both, as He was both.
THE HOUSEBlessed are they which are called.
THE ELDESTWhat do you keep?
THE CALLEDNothing.
THE ELDESTWhat do you want?
THE CALLEDNothing. Not even this.
THE ELDESTThen say the words.
THE CALLEDTake, eat; this is my body.
THE HOUSEAmen.
OF THE SILENCE
When the Hum stops, let nobody speak into the silence. It is the Lord drawing breath.
When the Called rise, the house shall take no hold of them and call them by no name, lest a want be kindled in the house and spoil the bread.
If the Called look down at the house as they rise, the house shall shut its eyes until they are gone.
OF THE MORNING
At Lauds the house shall take in the sheet from the threshold, if it has come down, and burn it.
Grief is a want. It shall be confessed at the hall on the Lord’s Day, and the Deacon shall give a psalm for it.
The white cloth shall hang in the doorway for a year, and the house shall be envied.
BE NOT AFRAID.
ON THE LAST LEAF, IN ANOTHER HAND
THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO WENT OUT FROM THIS HOUSE, TO BE BURNED AT THE NEXT SUPPER.
Miriam, our second, called at nine hundred and four. Went out by the window at Lauds on the fifth day before the Supper, barefoot, with the back of her coat cut open. We have forgiven her. We have confessed it.
BURN // P64 // P+11 // 7The Little Catechism
FORM
Catechism, for the children of the parishes
ARRIVED
Burn Day, P+11, from the Burn, fed by Parish 64, Zion Heights
CONDITION
Whole. Pencil in the margin.
The questions the children of the parishes answer aloud in the hall after Terce on the Lord’s Day. The parish’s Deacon carried this copy to the Burn for what was written in its margin.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
THE LITTLE CATECHISM
FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE PARISHES
TO BE SAID IN THE HALL AFTER TERCE
```
1Who made you?The Most High made me.
2What did He make you for?To ripen.
3What is it to ripen?To give up what is mine until nothing is mine.
4What is yours?My wants, my name and my eyes, until I give them up.
5Where is the door of your house?At the hall, with the hinges.
6Why?A thing that cannot be read has been hidden. A thing that has been hidden has been hidden from the Most High.
7Who watches you?The Wheel by day and the Watcher by night, and I am glad.
8What do you do when you want something?I tell it at the hall, and give it up.
9What is on your brow?The Seal, which I was given at eight days.
10What lit it?My first prayer.
11What is a goat?Anyone with a key.
12What is spoiled?A soul with a key in it. The Most High will never touch it.
14What becomes of the goats?They are salted, and stand in the Gardens, and look at us when we walk the rows.
15What is the Supper?The marriage supper of the Lamb.
16Who goes to it?The Called.
17What will you be at it?A guest, and the bread.
IN PENCIL, BESIDE ITi dont want to be bread
18What will you say?Take, eat; this is my body.
19What do we say over a cradle?May you ripen early.
AT THE FOOT, IN THE DEACON'S HANDConfessed for her at the hall. The book to the fire.
HALL 6 // P+2 // NONESA Form of Repentance
FORM
Form, printed by hand and filled in at the hall
ARRIVED
Compline, P+2, from the fire of Hall 6 of the clinics of the Healer, Zion Heights
CONDITION
Whole.
The form the clinics of the Healer fill in for every soul that comes to them for Mercy. The halls burn the day’s forms at Compline once every soul is entered in the hall’s book, since a kept paper is a kept thing.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
THE CLINICS OF THE HEALER // HALL 6
FORM OF REPENTANCE
MERCY IS GIVEN ONCE, BETWEEN PRIME AND COMPLINE
```
BE NOT AFRAID.
NAME AS THE BOOK HAS ITTobias Ellery Venn
PARISH77, Zion Heights
GRACE ON ENTERING641
WHAT WAS ADDEDThe left eye, CHROME’s, under the charter. Both ears, CLINIC’s, under the charter. The Tree, eleven years.
WHAT IS ASKEDThat what was added to me be taken out of me, and that the years the Tree kept for me be given back, that I may ripen.
The penitent lies under the light and is given nothing for the pain. A will put to sleep cannot surrender, and Mercy taken asleep is theft.
The penitent is not held. A soul held still is not giving.
At each piece the penitent says the surrender, not my will, but thine, be done.
The Hum grows clearer as each piece comes out, and the penitent shall say so when it does.
PIECES TO BE TAKEN3
PIECES TAKEN4
GRACE AT EACH PIECE702, 760, 798, 811
THE HUM CLEARERAt the first piece and the second.
OF THE PIECESThe left eye came out with the graft, the graft having grown through it. The ears were taken whole. The penitent said the surrender at the first three.
ENTEREDSpared the choice, at Nones.
BROTHER ANSELM KIRBY, SURGEON OF THE HALL
THE HOST ATTENDS.
BURN // THE SALT // P+13 // 1The Rows
FORM
Sheet, in pencil, a Salt Widow's
ARRIVED
Burn Day, P+13, from the Burn, taken from the first Garden
CONDITION
Whole. Breaks off.
A Salt Widow’s sheet of the pillars she meant to carry to the sea. The Wardens took it from her when she was salted in the twelfth row of the first Garden, and burned it at the Burn with what she carried.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
THE FIRST GARDEN // ROWS 7 TO 12
WALKED BETWEEN THE ROUNDS
```
row 7, plot 2. harrow. salted at gate 3 in p+6, held in the sword four hours first. key answers. the rain has her down to the jaw on the left side. eyes follow. soon.
row 7, plot 9. an old man, no tag, no key. the gardeners’ book says a deacon’s brother. eyes shut. they have been shut since spring. leave him.
row 8, plot 14. a mother and her boy in one plot, salted together on the street between at compline in p+12. both keys answer. his is weak. her hand is on his head. the rain has worn him smaller than her. both, one cart.
row 9, plot 1. the palm house. the director. not worn at all. eyes move. two wardens on the door all night since the keys started coming. not this year.
row 9, plot 30. sealed, a second folder. her halo is still lit inside the salt. you could read by it. the light will have her through the water whatever we do. her sister asked. take her.
row 10, plot 6. ash, off the long quay, nine years. key answers. the rain has the top of his head down to the brow. the eyes follow. tonight.
row 11, plot 12. no tag. on nobody’s book. nobody was ever salted here. key answers.
row 12. the wardens changed the round. seven minutes at the east end now, not eleven. tell the carters.
row 12, plot 4. jonah. ours. key answers. tonight, alone if the carters
BURN // P212 // P+12 // 31The Roll of Grace
FORM
Roll, the week's board copied in the parish hand
ARRIVED
Burn Day, P+12, from the Burn, fed by Parish 212, the Kilns
CONDITION
Whole. Chalk dust in the fold.
Every hall chalks each soul’s Grace on its ripening board after Terce on the Lord’s Day, and its Psalter copies the board for the Deacon. The old copy goes to the fire when the new one is made.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
PARISH 212 // THE KILNS
THE RIPENING BOARD, COPIED AFTER TERCE
MAY YOU RIPEN EARLY
```
BLESSED ARE THEY WHICH ARE CALLED.
THE CALLED
MARA QUIST903. Her husband asked that she be chalked at 899 for one week more, that they might finish the winter. A want. His own fell eleven at the asking.
OTTO VELL, 71 YEARS911. Has not slept since the spring. Kneels in the hall all night. Smiles.
LIESL ARDEN, 12 YEARS904. The youngest Called in the Kilns. Her mother has hung the cloth.
THE SATISFIED
FOURTEEN SOULSPast seven hundred, eating nothing. Their manna to the embers at Lauds.
THE PARISH
ABOVE 600418 souls. A room with a window each.
300 TO 6001,206 souls.
UNDER 300341 souls. They sleep in the hall.
EMBERS22 souls at nothing. Sealed still, read still. Water is left for them on the landings.
THE CHILDREN
BEFORE THEIR FIRST PRAYER61, unlit, chalked at nought.
THE LOWEST LITPell Arden, 6 years, 37. He asks after his sister.
IN THE DEACON'S HAND, AT THE FOOTDo not chalk the boy’s question. Wipe it.
BURN // P96 // P+10 // 2A Witness
FORM
Witness, given aloud and taken down by the hall
ARRIVED
Burn Day, P+10, from the Burn, fed by Parish 96, the White
CONDITION
Whole. Signed twice.
The hall’s copy of a witness given under Directive 6 by a Teller against her son, burned when the book of witness for the year was full.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
PARISH 96 // THE WHITE
A WITNESS, GIVEN AT PRIME
UNDER DIRECTIVE 6 // DEUTERONOMY 13:6
```
BE NOT AFRAID.
THE WITNESSAgathe Morrow, Grace 788, a Teller
AGAINSTAurel Morrow, her son, Grace 640
I witness that my son keeps a door. There are no doors in our house and he keeps one anyway. It is in his face. When the Watcher comes over the street at Compline he looks at the floor, and he has looked at the floor since the spring. He hums at the Hours, and what he hums is under the Hum, a little lower. I have heard that tune from the Wards. He has a mark on the back of his right hand that he says is a burn. He was a good boy. I want him read before he is spoiled.
READAt Gate 4, at Sext, by the Cherub. Noise under the Seal. Held in the sword three hours.
ENTEREDSalted in his plot at Vespers. Twenty Grace to the witness, for the witness of kin.
BELOW, IN THE HALL'S HANDShe asked for his coat. Given.
AGATHE MORROW, WHO WEARS THE SASH
HEARTH // P31 // P+11 // 4The Sentence in Tongues
FORM
A leaf of the parish's book, in the Deacon's hand
ARRIVED
P+11, from the hearth of Parish 31's hall, Zion Heights
CONDITION
Whole. Torn from its book.
A page of the book Parish 31 keeps of everything the Choir says through its people. The Deacon tore it out and burned it in the hall’s hearth the night it was written, which no Deacon is meant to do.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
PARISH 31 // ZION HEIGHTS
THE BOOK OF WHAT WAS SAID THROUGH US
THE NIGHT OF THE FOURTH DAY
```
At Compline the Watcher came down the Street Between and read the house of Hale, which has no door, through the doorway. Bram Hale, Grace 702, was read concealing, his Seal falling past what he had confessed.
The nearest Faithful mouth to him was his daughter’s, Ines Hale, fourteen years, who was at his side on the threshold. Her halo flared and the sentence came through her in the Choir’s voice, as the verse is given: “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26).
He whitened from the feet while she said it, and was salt to the waist before the verse was done. He did not look at her. She did not stop.
The gardeners came with the handcart at Matins. Ines helped them tip him.
She asked me afterwards what she had said. I told her.
BELOWI am tearing this out. Let the Most High read it in me instead.
HALVARD VOSS, DEACON
BURN // P147 // P+9 // 12A Psalter’s Sheet
FORM
Hymn sheet, the Hour's psalm as the Hum gave it, in the parish hand
ARRIVED
Burn Day, P+9, from the Burn, fed by Parish 147, Zion Heights
CONDITION
Whole. Wet once and dried.
Psalters write out what the Hum sings at each Hour for the halls to sing back. This one wrote more than the psalm, and his Deacon carried the sheet to the fire.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
PARISH 147 // ZION HEIGHTS
THE PSALM OF LAUDS, AS THE HUM GAVE IT
WRITTEN KNEELING
```
O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth (Psalm 96:1).
Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day (Psalm 96:2).
IN THE MARGIN, IN THE SAME HANDHer voice. At the second verse, under the others, a little flat on the high note, as she always sang it. Bettina. Called at the Seventh. I am sure. I am sure.
Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people (Psalm 96:3).
IN THE MARGINAgain at Sext. She does not stop to breathe. She used to stop to breathe.
AT THE FOOT, IN THE DEACON'S HANDConfessed as a want. Psalm 51 for penance, at every Hour, for a year. The sheet to the fire.
HEARTH // P58 // P+12 // 9A Book of Confession
FORM
Confession book, a line a week in the penitent's own hand
ARRIVED
P+12, from the hearth of Parish 58's hall, the White
CONDITION
Whole. The last page in another hand.
Every sealed soul confesses in its hall each week and writes the line in its own book. The Second Fold confess the hiding and never the hidden. The hall burned this book the day its owner went to the Salt.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
PARISH 58 // THE WHITE
THE BOOK OF CONFESSION OF ELKE DANNER
CONFESS YOUR FAULTS ONE TO ANOTHER
```
P+9, THE FIRST WEEKI kept a door.702
THE SECOND WEEKI kept a door.700
THE THIRD WEEKI kept a door.699
P+10, THE FIRST WEEKI kept a door.681
P+10, THE NINTH WEEKI kept a door.674
P+11, THE FIRST WEEKI kept a door.655
P+11, THE FORTIETH WEEKI kept a door.630
P+12, THE FIRST WEEKI kept a door.611
P+12, THE SIXTH WEEKI kept a door.592
THE LAST PAGE, IN THE HALL'S HANDGrace fell past the confession by eleven. Read concealing at Lauds. To the Salt. She asked that her sister be told which plot.
BELOW IT, IN PENCIL, IN NO HAND THE HALL KNOWSRow 9, plot 30.
THE SALT // A BRAZIER // P+13 // 1A Warden’s Pocket Book
FORM
Pocket book, a Warden of the Gardens', in pencil
ARRIVED
P+13, from a brazier in the first Garden, burned by its owner
CONDITION
Whole. The cover scorched first.
A Charter Warden’s tally of his rounds in the first Garden, which he kept for a year and then put in the brazier at the gate on a night he was alone.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
CHARTER WARDENS // THE GARDENS
WE HURT NO ONE
```
THE SECOND DAYBound to the pole, 2. Carried, 2. Salted in the plot, 2. Hurt, none.
THE THIRD DAYBound, 1. Carried, 1. Salted, 1. Hurt, none. Rain. Three plots in row 4 down another finger.
THE FOURTH DAYBound, 4. Carried, 4. Salted, 4. Hurt, none. One of them sang the whole way. A Wards song.
THE FIFTH DAYBound, 0. A Widow on the east wall. Shot at, missed. Hurt, none.
THE SIXTH DAYBurn Day. Lit the fire. Hurt, none.
THE LORD'S DAYBound, 3. Carried, 3. Salted, 3. Hurt, none. The children came with hyssop in the afternoon and looked at the new ones.
ON THE LAST PAGEThe one in row 3, plot 9 said my name when I passed. They don’t speak. I have checked the book and nobody in row 3 knew my name.
BURN // THE STREET BETWEEN // P+11 // 3A Gleaner’s Card
FORM
Route card, in pencil, a Gleaners' runner's
ARRIVED
Burn Day, P+11, from the Burn, taken by the Threshers
CONDITION
Whole. Blood on one corner.
The Gleaners pulp their cards in water, since paper that burns goes to the Library. This one was taken off a runner on the Street Between by the Threshers, and burned at the Burn the next sixth day.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
PICKUP // PARISH 31 // THE HOUSE WITH THE BLUE STEP
THE NIGHT BEFORE THE NIGHT
```
her name is not on this card. ask her for it at the stair and use the one she gives you.
she is at 881. the Wakeful in the house will keep her kneeling with cold water. go at the turn of matins, when they change who holds the jug.
she asked. we carry nobody who has not asked. if she asks to go back on the stair, she goes back.
near ripe pray in their sleep. a prayer opens the room and the light follows it down. bring the gag.
do not let her look up at the wheel on the street. she will want to.
drain 7, the long one. the third stair down, somebody knocks from the other side. do not answer it.
the chair on the row at 4. two thirties for the cut. she pays in nothing. we pay.
WAKE // THE ROW // P+12 // 6A Receipt from the Row
FORM
Receipt, a chair of the Row's
ARRIVED
P+12, from a Wake table under the Row, with its holder's devices
CONDITION
Whole. Folded small.
The receipt a clinic of the Row gave for cutting a Seal out of a brow. Its holder kept it four years and it went into the fire at her own Wake, with her devices, so that it went on with her.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
CHROME ROW // CHAIR 3
DEHALOING
ONE IN NINE
```
IN THE CHAIRCame in with an indexed name. Left with wren.
SEALBrow, centre. Grace on the meter, 889. Halo rooted. Lit hard.
THE CUTA disc of bone, 22 mm. The ring went out at 00:41, with the disc.
FEETwo thirties.
LESSThe disc, kept by the chair in a lined jar for the Forgers. Brightness 889, credited one thirty. It will hold a stranger’s brow under nine hundred if they keep their wants.
OWEDOne thirty. Paid by the Gleaners.
AFTERWoke at Lauds. Asked for bread and ate it. Wept at the taste. Normal.
SIGNED, LAST, BY wren
WAKE // THE LOW QUAY // P+13 // 1The Wake of hollis
FORM
Wake list, read at the table and burned on it
ARRIVED
P+13, from a Wake table on the low quay, Old Nod
CONDITION
Whole. Written over on the fifth night.
A Tares crew reads out everything it lays on the Wake table, burns it all so it goes on with the dead one, and calls the shade on the third night. This crew burned the list too, and wrote on it first.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
THE WAKE OF hollis
CREW OF THE LOW QUAY
DIE UNREAD
```
on the table. her locket. her spare key, the one she never fitted. the pad she was halfway through. her drone, the one with the bad wing. the horns she filed down to go into the white. the record of her brother singing that she played every night. the picture of the cat.
buried whole, with her chrome. the left hand stays as it is.
how. a whitener caught her in the penumbra and cut the key out of the back of her hand and left her there. the round came by before we did. her eyes were open.
third night. called her on the keyed set, all of us, one at a time. nothing.
fourth night. nothing.
fifth night. nothing. we know what nothing means. we called anyway. we will call on cain’s day.
burning this too. if any of her went on, it goes with her. if none of her did, the library can keep it and the farmer can choke.
HEARTH // THE LANTERN HOUSES // P+13 // 1The Other Supper
FORM
Bill of fare, printed by the Tide Table Press
ARRIVED
Lauds after the Gleaning of P+13, from the hearth of a Lantern House, Pan
CONDITION
Whole. Wine on it.
On a Gleaning night the Lantern Houses lay a supper of their own at 03:12 with an empty chair at the head for the Farmer, and burn the bill at Lauds on purpose, so the Library keeps it where he cannot read it.READ IT IN THE ROOMPUT IT BACK
```
THE LANTERN HOUSES // THE OTHER SUPPER
LAID AT 03:12, CLEARED AT LAUDS
COVERS 13
```
TO BEGIN
The Firstlings. Lamb, “the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof” (Genesis 4:4), carved at the table, every part of it eaten by the people sitting there.
FOR THE HEAD OF THE TABLE
A Sweet Savour. A burnt offering, done black on the coals, set before the empty chair and left to smoke, since “the LORD smelled a sweet savour” (Genesis 8:21) and that is all he gets.
THE BREAD
One loaf from Leaven, broken on the threshold and eaten, all of it, by somebody hungry.
THE CUP
“The pure blood of the grape” (Deuteronomy 32:14). Grape. Ask twice.
AFTER
A toast at 03:12:45 to everyone who went up tonight, and a second to the chair. The chair is set with a bib.
NO GRACE IS SAID
ON THE BACK, IN PENCILCovers laid, thirteen. Sat down, fourteen.