( harrowhark's face is a carefully-composed and cryptic in alabaster paint and charcoal, giving nothing away but a careful calculation in her lightless eyes, set in deep black sockets. )

I was looking for the reason something like this exists at all.

( since "fun" was a reason given for absolutely nothing in the Ninth House, it's not one that harrow would have immediately jumped to. another barrier to that theory would've been that there was apparently a toll for crossing this way, which seemed completely ridiculous. who would pay to put them through something like this? )

If I wanted to cross, I would find a way less — ( she perches on the pause like a diver waiting for the whistle, ) asinine.