# Book 3 Timeline — The Sealed Chamber

**Purpose:** Track elapsed time between chapters to prevent continuity errors. Update this file whenever a chapter is drafted or revised.

**Season:** Very late winter, approaching early spring. ~4 months after Book 2 Epilogue (Day 29, which was "late winter — edge of the first thaw").

**Bell System:** Bells count 1–12. Bell number ≈ hour of day. Context (morning/afternoon/evening) determines AM/PM equivalent.

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## Timeline Summary

| Day | Chapter | Day of Week | Key Events |
|-----|---------|-------------|------------|
| 1 | Ch01 | Day 1 | Domestic morning at Chandler's Row. Devod visit at second bell (Reseda + Moonswell cutting; "second front" observation at fourth bell). Training with Leon at sixth bell (18s hold). Evening work with Mere on WellsMoon — 47s seam failure persistent. Guild courier delivers Ledger's summons at seventh bell. |
| 2 | Ch02 | Day 2 | File-room briefing with Ledger at second bell: three-file brief on the Kade Reach ruin (20-year survey + Scout 1's journal + forensics), artifact-share sweetener, case accepted. Grievance disclosed as fourth slimmer/darker file. Grooming hint (*"more than the paperwork says"*). Walk home via canal district. Edge of fourth bell back at Chandler's Row. Evening: cell-fix seam run with Mere sets up Ch03 cold open. Carriage departs Fifthday morning (~3 days from Day 2). |

**Time gap from Book 2 Epilogue:** ~4 months from Book 2 Day 29 to Book 3 Day 1. Per Phelan's Ch01 narration — *"That was four months ago"* — referencing Ledger's Epilogue handoff line. Deep winter → very late winter / approach of early spring.

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## Ch01: The New Arithmetic — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Before first bell | — | Jenet Carterson drops a bread crust wrapped in cloth on the counter for Sniff on her way to the dockside market. She has a key; uses it most mornings since the winter when she took over Sniff's feeding routine. |
| Early morning | — | Phelan down first, puts water on. Kitchen faces the wrong way for good dawn light — sun reaches far wall before the table. Bracelet cool on the side table. Brass microscope on the table (eleven weeks there). Ghostveil jars in the workshop corner. Moonswell tray in the window behind Mere's lattice panel. |
| ~Third bell | Third bell | Mere comes down — morning-sickness window. Shoulders square, stomach not surprised. Ginger by weight (two drams). *"How's the stairs." / "Stairs are fine. The hour before the stairs is the problem."* House plans (Rev 13) discussed. Leon training confirmed. Shoulder status: *"Fine"* — the unspoken 18s/20s plateau-broken state. |
| Second bell | Second bell | Devod's walking-stick knock at the step (two-pause-one). Brings Reseda, a wax-sealed jar, and a Moonswell cutting. Sits at the table. Discusses Rev 13 — approves east kitchen, recommends slatted tilt-able shade panel over curtains. |
| ~Fourth bell | Fourth bell | Devod looks at the ghostveil jars through the doorway. *"If this works, the guild has enough supply for Kae's herbal treatment to stop buying through the Compact when we run out."* Mere acknowledges. Devod departs shortly after. Phelan watches him clear the gate — tracks a cart half a second longer than a man who had no reason to. |
| ~Sixth bell | Sixth bell | Phelan trains with Leon in a shaded courtyard off the dockside. Eighteen seconds on the hold. Leon's sleeve warms-and-cools in throwing-for-effect rhythm. |
| Late afternoon | — | Phelan walks home. Kitchen in west-angled light now. Mere has moved to the workshop corner with third mix on a slide. Thaumometer set on far end of table. Bracelet back on its strap on Phelan's wrist. |
| Evening | — | Seam work. Seam held / seam failed pattern. 47 seconds repeats twice in a row. Mere proposes stitching from the intact side out — threading, not patching. Would need 100x; microscope gives 40. *"Lines patch. Seams thread."* |
| ~Seventh bell | Seventh bell | Guild courier — young woman in grey jacket with guild pin — knocks once firmly. Delivers folded card with Ledger's seal. *"For you, Locksmith."* Inside: two lines, a bell time, a street. Not the office — the file room. Tomorrow, second bell. |
| Evening into night | — | Phelan at the table with the card, the thaumometer, and the bracelet warming gently for the first time in four months. Mere closes the microscope cover (small clean click). *"Get the shoulder warm in the morning." / "Get the noise warm too."* Mere and Sniff upstairs. |

**Tomorrow (Day 2):**
- Second bell: File-room meeting with Ledger at the guild hall. (Ch02 — *The File*.)

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## Ch02: The File — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Before second bell | — | Phelan leaves Chandler's Row. Walk to guild hall via dockside → canal bridge (one of its two working mornings a week) → northern warrens → guild quarter. Bracelet still warm, unchanged since last night. Arrives guild hall five minutes before second bell. Receptionist does not look up (unchanged for eight months). Second floor, corridor, third door — the file room, not the office. |
| Second bell | Second bell | Door opens as the bell begins. Briefing starts. Three files in a ruler-straight column on the table. Ledger already seated; Phelan's chair faces the window. Opens with *"Varrant."* |
| Second → third bell | Second into third | Phase 1 — the job. Leather file (20-year Kade Reach survey with Devod's margin note), cloth file (Scout 1's field journal — confident hypothesis then silence at week 6), paper file (forensics on Scout 1's death, ward still active and lethal). Ledger reads out the why: Holven debt pressure + Cairns letter from Pamira. The sweetener slip is produced from under the third file and slid across. Phelan accepts. |
| Most of the way into the third bell | Third bell | Phase 2 — the grievance. A fourth slimmer, darker file. Filed 12 days ago, reopens the Book 1 qualifications inquiry with the Book 2 crystal alteration as new evidence. Cass witness of record. Relief sought: expulsion. Ledger: *"I bought you a year. They spent four months of it writing the grievance."* Phase 3 — the grooming hint: *"You've been carrying more than the paperwork says. That's about to matter."* Deflection on whether Compact jurisdiction reaches higher than contractor. |
| Late third bell | Third bell | At the door Ledger drops *"Locksmith."* *"Good to have you working again."* Phelan leaves with the three files in his satchel, forensics report on top by design. |
| Walking back | — | Canal district route instead of guild quarter (not looking like a man who had just been told he is being sued out of the guild). Five-thread noise: moss, thaumometer, gate, scout, Holven. Moss to the front. |
| Edge of fourth bell | Fourth bell | Arrives Chandler's Row. Door unlocked (Mere). Mere at workshop corner, microscope, slide in hand, preparing. Sniff in his corner. Without turning: *"It's on isn't it?"* Exchange confirms the trip (four days, carriage, Fifthday morning). Mere turns; hand to abdomen in the sentence it has become over the last several weeks. Phelan tells her about the grievance. Mere takes it in, sits, thinks, appends one item to her evening plan she will not say for twelve hours. *"Then let's finish the cell fix tonight."* Sets up Ch03 cold open. Satchel placed on the far side of the table, away from her instruments. *"Start the mix." / "Starting."* Afternoon going. |

**Tomorrow (Day 3):**
- Ch03 — team brief at Chandler's Row (Leon, Devod, Mere, Phelan). Per outline. Cold open is the WellsMoon fusion breakthrough via Flaw Sight at 100x.

**Four days from Day 2:**
- Fifthday morning: carriage departs for Thorngate. Expected ~4 days out + ~10 on-site + ~4 back (three weeks away from Mere, minimum). Sabre will meet Phelan at the Duchess's gates.

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## Gap-Between-Books Timeline

Ordered events in the four months between Book 2 Epilogue (Day 29) and Book 3 Day 1:

- **Day ~32 (four days after the Book 2 Epilogue wedding party):** Phelan to Ledger's office. Ledger doesn't have the case ready. *"When it's ready, I'll send for you. Keep your tools warm."*
- **Deep winter (mid-gap):** Fire training plateau cracks. Daily work with Leon pushes from the 15s Book 2 floor to 18s typical, 20s in weather. Mutual unspoken agreement not to congratulate themselves.
- **"The filing week" (mid-gap, specific week left to drafter discretion):** Phelan and Mere file at the Drenwick court house — crown civil registry, second floor, counter two, 6 silvers, 10-day waiting period per Book 2 canon. Phelan prepares Rev 12 of the house plans that week. Mere's Rev 13 redraw follows six days later (nursery to east-facing kitchen; upstairs room to office).
- **Late gap (conception window, ~11 weeks before Ch01 Day 1):** Pregnancy begins. Morning sickness around the third bell develops as the trimester progresses.
- **Weeks before Ch01:** Brass microscope loaned onto Chandler's Row kitchen table — magic-ground lens, 40x. Moonswell trays in the window behind a lattice panel Mere built from scrap strip. WellsMoon iteration continues — failures stacked on a shelf, one promising lead.
- **Some weeks before Ch01 (specific day not set):** Bracelet pulses faintly at a dockside squall that drains a bargeman's preserved-weather charm crate two streets over. Filed by Phelan as a reminder the bracelet is still paying attention, not as a drafted event.
- **Day 1 (Ch01):** Summons arrives at seventh bell. Bracelet warms gently.

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## Status Flags (for future chapters)

- **Pregnancy week count** drifts with time — Mere is ~11 weeks at Ch01. Track progression when drafting later Book 3 chapters.
- **Book 3 season** starts very late winter. Natural progression into early spring through Act 1.
- **Marriage filing anniversary math:** The "filing week" occurred in the gap; drafters writing scenes that reference time-since-filing should check this file (+ any updates) before committing to a specific number of weeks/months.
