Ujjayini, 1180 CE
Somapala was waiting beside the inner archive when Eshaan arrived the following morning. Two clerks were carrying bundles through the passage behind him, and a palace guard stood near the doorway with a spear resting against his shoulder. Nothing about the scene suggested an emergency, but Somapala had asked Eshaan to come before the archive opened to the other scholars. That alone made the meeting unusual.
"You have been asking about Rudradatta," the archivist said.
"I found his name in the transfer registers. Your message said he left the palace twenty-seven years ago."
"He did. He was a copyist for several collections, including the old astronomical records. He was competent, though he had a habit of correcting the work of men who were senior to him."
"Was that why he left?"
"I have no record of it. I was not responsible for this archive at the time."
