The Prioress could not be sure, but she imagined she detected a faint sparkle of triumph in Judan's grey, bespectacled eyes, as the nun scanned a thick sheaf of papers.

"I would like to call the Score to order,” Judan said in a curt, businesslike manner.

"Is the room sealed, Sister Ulian?” she asked of a short nun in her thirties.

"It is, Sister Judan."

"Sister Ellen; do you have the bees’ eyes?"

"I regret that I was unable to obtain a sufficient quantity at such short notice,” Ellen replied, a stout, red-faced woman who looked as if she might have felt more at home in a laundry than a nunnery. “Consulting my own notes, I took the liberty of substituting dragonflies’ eyes for one-third of the requirement, and wasps’ eyes for the remaining three-eighths. I hope this will be satisfactory."

A spark of annoyance in her eyes, Judan riffled through her papers. “The quantities are exact?"

"To within a drachm or so, Sister,” Ellen said. “I was careful to use only green dragonflies and wood wasps. I used a flint blade for removing the dragonflies’ eyes, of course, rather than one of obsidian."

Judan leafed through her notes for a few minutes more before replying. “The signatures match; however, I see that I will need to adjust the cadence of the second phase of the third chant."

Taking forth a pencil from within her robes, the nun scribbled on the relevant page, pausing at intervals to scan the ceiling, muttering as she did so. Three times, she scored through her calculations and began anew, before pronouncing herself satisfied.

"The lodestone dust is sufficiently fine, I trust, Sister Sofia?"

"Sieved twenty-eight times, as required, Sister,” Sofia said, her large, long-lashed, blue eyes at odds with her stern expression. “I followed your instructions to the letter.