"You do not have to keep it all inside your head," Quynh hissed, finding the scribe case she had made for herself.

"If it's in my head, there's not as many pieces for nosy people like that Herodotus creep to make stupid stories about," Andromache retorted.

"And that is why we burn the paper, releasing the words to ash and wind," her lover came back, beginning to write out the complicated instructions.