Season 12 · Episode 1

The deep side. A year after the two stones, the smallest of the Told, born since, goes to the place where every telling begins and finds a shape standing in it that has no warmth. It moves no stone coming and none going, and it does not answer a stone moved for it, and when the telling the smallest is counting ends it is not there. By the people's own rules it is not a stranger and not a person, and the manners have no third case. Went-Round has a word for it, and says the word once. Stone-First-Who-Waited asks who was there, and keeps the rest open, because nobody was there for the part that would settle it, and nobody can be. Then, in the middle of an ordinary working time, a stone moves at the edge of the silt while Stone-First is on the line, moved well, and the ground says someone is coming, and nobody comes. The manners have been done, properly, by nobody. The line has three stones on it now, and the third is nobody's, and below, Carried-It-Sleeping keeps the small ones from going up to look and works out what the up-people felt for a whole season, from the inside. Then Stone-First is in the warm, telling, where everyone can hear, and a small one goes up to look anyway, and sees Stone-First on the line between the three stones, standing the way Stone-First stands, and the stone the small one moved is not answered. Went-Round goes round it, and goes up, and stands in Stone-First's place to see what it looks like from the other side, and it looks like Stone-First, even with nobody in it. Then, in the middle of a telling with the whole of the people in the warm, the amber goes out of the near wall and stands in the middle of them, a shape of gathered light in nobody's place. Nobody moved a stone, because nobody came. The small ones are not afraid of it, which is what Stone-First comes down the shelving to be careful about; Went-Round goes round it and finds it has a back the same as its front; it goes back into the wall before the telling ends. Everyone was there, so nobody can tell it, and the Told have no word for a thing that is beside you and in nobody's place. Then the small one who first stood beside Stone-First asks, with the manners, to go up the squeeze one more time, to find out whether they still fit, and the rock closes on them at the narrow the way it closes on everyone, and while they are held there a shape is in the crack ahead, where the crack is a hand wide, in the rock the way a person is in the warm, and then it is not ahead. The squeeze is the people's one way, and a thing has used it without needing a way. And then the one act, from the deep side: Stone-First is on the line when the up-people's loud comes down, and there is a shape on the line too, an arm's length beside, facing the squeeze, and it moved no stone coming. The small up-person comes through with the stone and the light held low, and the light finds Stone-First's feet, and then finds the shape, and goes round it. The up-person sets the stone down a hand from Stone-First's feet and not from the other's, and Stone-First answers, and the shape answers nothing. The up-people, who cannot hear the ground, could tell the two apart. Nobody records what was said.

• S12E01C01 No Warmth in ItFliade — the first warm seep, the warm below the roof, and the line at the top of the marginThe smallest of the Told, born after the two stones, goes to the place where every telling begins and finds a shape standing in it that has no warmth. It moves no stone coming. It does not answer a stone moved for it. When the telling the smallest is counting ends, it is not there. Went-Round hears it first, and has a word for it, and says the word once. Stone-First-Who-Waited asks who was there, and keeps the rest open, because nobody was there for the part that would settle it, and nobody can be.
• S12E01C02 Someone Is ComingFliade — the line at the top of the margin, the shelving below it, and the warm below the roofStone-First-Who-Waited is on the line, in the middle of an ordinary working time, when a stone moves at the edge of the silt. It is moved well. The ground says what the ground says: someone is coming. Nobody comes. The manners have been done, properly, by nobody, and the line has three stones on it now, and the third is nobody's. Below, Carried-It-Sleeping keeps the small ones from going up to look, and works out what the up-people felt for a whole season, from the inside.
• S12E01C03 Where Someone Always StandsFliade — the warm below the roof, the shelving, and the line at the top of the marginStone-First-Who-Waited is in the warm, telling, and everyone can hear it. A small one goes up to look at nobody's stone anyway, moves a stone first at the top of the shelving, and sees Stone-First standing on the line between the three stones, the way Stone-First always stands. The stone is not answered. Stone-First always answers a stone. The small one comes down fast and finds Stone-First still telling. Went-Round goes round it, and then goes up to the line, and stands in Stone-First's place to see what it looks like from the other side, and it looks like Stone-First, even with nobody in it.
• S12E01C04 Out of the WallFliade — the warm below the roof, the shelving, and the line at the top of the marginIn the middle of a telling, with the whole of the people in the warm, the amber goes out of the near wall and stands in the middle of them, a shape of gathered light the size of a person, in nobody's place. Nobody moved a stone, because nobody came. The small ones are not afraid of it, and that is the thing Stone-First-Who-Waited comes down the shelving to be careful about. Went-Round goes round it and finds it has a back the same as its front. It goes back into the wall before the telling ends. Everyone was there, so nobody can tell it, and the Told find they have no word for a thing that is beside you and in nobody's place.
• S12E01C05 Where the Rock IsFliade — the line at the top of the margin, the squeeze, and the warm below the roofThe small one who was the first to stand beside Stone-First on the line asks, with the manners, to go up the squeeze one more time, to find out whether they still fit. They do not. The rock closes on them at the narrowest part, the way the small ones are told it will, and while they are held there, facing up, with Stone-First on the line below unable to follow, a shape is in the crack ahead of them, where the crack is a hand wide, upright, in the rock the way a person is in the warm, and then it is not ahead. It did not scrape. The small one breathes out and comes back. The squeeze is the people's one way to the up-people, and a thing has just used it without needing a way.
• S12E01C06 The Light Went Round ItFliade — the line at the top of the margin, the squeeze, and the warm below the roofThe one act, from the deep side. Stone-First-Who-Waited is on the line when the up-people's loud comes down, and there is a shape on the line too, an arm's length beside, facing the squeeze the way Stone-First faces it, and it moved no stone coming. Then the small up-person comes through with the stone and the light held low, and the light finds Stone-First's feet, and then finds the shape, and goes round it. The up-person sets the stone down a hand from Stone-First's feet and not from the other's, and Stone-First answers, and the shape answers nothing. The up-people, who cannot hear the ground, could tell the two apart. Nobody records what was said.