Day Fifty-Eight shai was ready when Frava next visited. The woman paused in the doorway, the guards shufing out without objection as Captain Zu took their place. Youve been busy, Frava noted. Shai looked up from her research. Frava wasnt referring to her progress, but to the room. Most recently, Shai had improved the oor. It hadnt been difficult. The rock used to build the palacethe quarry, the dates, the stonemasonsall were matters of historic record. You like it? Shai asked. The marble works well with the hearth, I think. Frava turned, then blinked. A hearth? Where did you . . . Is this room bigger than it was? The storage room next door wasnt being used, Shai mumbled, turning back to her book. And the division between these two rooms was recent, constructed only a few years back. I rewrote the construction so that 91

BRANDON SANDERSON this room was made the larger of the two, and so that a hearth was installed. Frava seemed stunned. I wouldnt have thought . . . The woman looked back to Shai, and her face adopted its usual severe mask. I find it difficult to believe that you are taking your duty seriously, Forger. You are here to make an emperor, not remodel the palace. Carving soulstone relaxes me, Shai said. As does having a workspace that doesnt remind me of a closet. You will have your emperors soul in time, Frava. The arbiter stalked through the room, inspecting the desk. Then you have begun the emperors soulstone? Ive begun many of them, Shai said. It will be a complex process. Ive tested well over a hundred stamps on Gaotona Arbiter Gaotona. on the old man. Each is only a tiny slice of the puzzle. Once I have all of the pieces working, Ill recarve them in smaller, more delicate etchings. That will allow me to combine about a dozen test stamps into one final stamp.

But you said youd tested over a hundred, Frava said, frowning. Youll only use twelve of those in the end? Shai laughed. Twelve? To Forge an entire soul? Hardly. The final stamp, the one you will need to use on the emperor each morning, will be like . . . a linchpin, or the keystone of an arch. It will be the only one that 92 THE EMPERORS SOUL will need to be placed on his skin, but it will connect a lattice of hundreds of other stamps. Shai reached to the side, taking out her book of notes, including initial sketches of the final stamps. Ill take these and stamp them onto a metal plate, then link that to the stamp you will place on Ashravan each day. Hell need to keep the plate close at all times. Hell need to carry a metal plate with him, Frava said drily, and he will need to be stamped each day? This will make it difficult for the man to live a normal life, dont you think?

Being emperor makes it difficult for any man to live a normal life, I suspect. You will make it work. Its customary for the plate to be designed as a piece of adornment. A large medallion, perhaps, or an upper arm bracer with square sides. If you look at my own Essence Marks, youll notice they were done in the same way, and that the box contains a plate for each one. Shai hesitated. That said, Ive never done this exact thing before; no one has. There is a chance . . . and Id say a fair one . . . that over time, the emperors brain will absorb the information. Like . . . like if you traced the exact same image on a stack of papers every day for a year, at the end the layers below will contain the image as well. Perhaps after a few years of being stamped, he wont need the treatment any longer. I still name it egregious. Worse than being dead? Shai asked. 93