He shouldn't have left the writing until the last minute. But the History had to be kept. Not since the first day of the first Warden, Kapock the Eldest, had any Warden failed to keep the History, and Noyock prided himself on being more thorough than any of them. A rooster crowed, and then another, as if in answer. Noyock reached over and opened the shutter slightly. Still dark — someone must be walking the chickenyards, then. But perhaps it was nearly morning. Was the sky a little lighter? Had to sleep. Jason coming today, he muttered to himself. Yawned again. Jason today, and the History is ready. Noyock stretched, and left the room he had set aside for his duties as Warden — his planning, the History, meetings with individuals and couples, when the problems or questions weren't appropriate for open discussion. This, too, was new, since Jason had left. He will be pleased, Noyock told himself. I hope he's pleased. Below him, he could hear the clank of tin pans, the dull sound of a wooden spoon stirring rapidly in a clay pot.
