The Girl and the Stars. Mark Lawrence

answered.

      ‘They throw us down here,’ Yaz said slowly, ‘and we search for metal from this city, and in return they give us some salt and fish? We work for the priests. Slaves in a hole?’

      ‘Stars too,’ Arka said.

      ‘What?’

      ‘We mine the ice for stars too, and trade them for the food we need, and sometimes skins. Though mostly we use rats for that.’

      ‘Rats?’

      ‘Like tiny bears … only different.’ Arka waved the question off. ‘But yes, you’re right. We’re slaves working for the priests of the Black Rock.’ She pursed her lips. ‘I’m impressed. It normally takes several days for wets to figure it out, and you’ve just dug most of the answer out with a spoon from a bowl of stew!’

      They finished eating without further talk, each held by their own thoughts.

      ‘Is there more?’ Kao was the first to speak again.

      Arka snorted. ‘Gerants! Three times as strong, five times as hungry.’ She shook her head. ‘You got the largest bowl. There’s more later. We eat when we rise and again just before we sleep.’

      ‘How do we know when that is?’ Maya asked. ‘The light never changes here.’

      Thurin frowned. ‘You just know.’

      ‘You’ll learn to “just know”.’ Arka walked to the door, beckoning for them to follow. ‘It can take a while, but you have the rest of your lives to learn.’