82: The Naming

I walked the eastern lane at 3:42 PM.

The lane was quieter on a Wednesday afternoon than it had been on a Saturday. The pair of camellia bushes at the White Crane door were at the December-flowering still — small white-and-pink against the dark green leaves. The pale-wood front held the late-afternoon light at a flatter angle than it had on the Saturday afternoon four IRL days ago. The small wooden door was open at the hinge.

Wanqing was at the west-window-of-east-window table at 3:48.

She had on the dark green sweater under the dark coat. She had on her wrist the matched pale-gold full Lv 30 archer mastery cap glyph that had held its in-game render through the four IRL weeks since the chamber. She had at her right hand a small porcelain cup — the small careful adjacent-table-Wednesday-window cup the White Crane staff brought to a customer who had been told, by the small careful corner-window-table convention's adjacent-table-clause, that the small careful corner-window table's small careful four-PM Wednesday tea was about to begin.

She did not, when I came in, look at me.

The not-looking was the convention.

I crossed the room at the steady walk. I came to the corner-window table at the east window two tables west of the corner-back. The corner-back-table where Sister Lin had sat the small careful Saturday four days ago was empty.

The corner-window table had a single place setting: a small porcelain teapot at the center, two small porcelain cups at the east and west edges, a small clean white napkin folded at the small careful southwest corner of the table.

Mrs. Pan was at the west edge.

She was — at the IRL render — a small woman of seventy-three IRL years in a small clean dark-blue cardigan over a small careful pale-grey blouse. Her hair was at the small low bun the small careful 1990s-Hangzhou-mathematics-professor convention asked. She had at her right hand a small careful pencil. She had on the table at the small careful east edge a small folded square of green rice paper — a small twenty-five-centimeter square slightly larger than the small careful Mei Yulan small careful folded square Old Wolf had given me at the south-gate marshal stone Mon Nov 10 with the four-civic-line map.

She did not, when I sat at the east edge, look up.

She set the small folded square at the small careful east edge of the round table.

I set, beside it, the small careful pencil-signed Bladeless half of the Mei Yulan permanent civic-affiliate arrangement.

The two documents sat at the east edge.

She looked up.

She said: "Cangtian. Welcome."

I said: "Mrs. Pan."

She said: "I will pour."

She poured the tea from the small porcelain pot. The small careful clear-pale-yellow stream filled the small porcelain cup at the east edge for me, then the small porcelain cup at the west edge for her. The small careful pouring took the small careful eight seconds the small careful Hangzhou-mathematics-professor's pouring-cadence asked.

She set the pot back at the center.

She said: "I am Mrs. Pan. My given name is Pan Liwei. I was born in Hangzhou in 1941. I read mathematics at HZUT 1959-1963. I held the post of Lecturer in the Mathematics Department at HZUT from 1965 to 1985. I retired from the post at 1985 to take up the role I have held since: organizer of the small careful 1968-founded continental-precursor-formation that you and Old Wolf have, since the small careful July late-night letter to my colleague's son, named the small careful Quiet Hand."

She drank her cup.

I drank mine.

She said: "The 1968-founded formation has six original members. We were Hangzhou-mathematics-graduates of the 1963 cohort and the 1965 cohort, all six in our late twenties at the small careful 1968 founding. We took the small careful name Hangzhou-Six at the small careful first founding meeting. The other five were: Bai Wenya's mother, Bai Yuying — who was Lecturer in the same Mathematics Department until 1992; Mei Yulan's mother, Mei Lanxin — who was Lecturer in the History Department; Lin Tao's mother, Lin Suyu — who was Senior Lecturer in the small careful Civics Department; Sun Xiulan's grandmother, Sun Yiqing — who was Senior Lecturer in the Materials Science Department, and who chipped the copper coin in 1968; and Wanqing's grandmother — your future grandmother-by-Wanqing — Su Meifang, who was Lecturer in the Economics Department until 1979."

She paused.

She said: "Of the six, three are alive: myself, Mei Lanxin who lives at the small careful Hangzhou eastern district retirement community, and Sun Yiqing who lives at the small careful southern Hangzhou apartment with the small careful chipped copper coin in her left coat pocket. Bai Yuying died in 1998 of the small careful pneumonia. Lin Suyu died in 2003 of the small careful stroke. Su Meifang — your future grandmother-by-Wanqing — died in 2007. The small careful three-IRL-year window between 2003 and 2007 was, by our small careful internal succession-protocol, the small careful difficult window that produced the 1972-Pingjiang-Road-arranging's small careful eventual triangulation principle."

She drank her second sip.

I drank mine.

She said: "The 1968 founding was in response to the small careful late-1968 readings the six of us made at the small careful HZUT mathematics seminar's small careful end-of-year colloquium of the small careful continental civic-historical-context's small careful regulatory-pace. The reading suggested the regulatory-pace would, by the small careful 2017 inflection-point — what Old Wolf has named the Continental Three reckoning — require an organized small careful precursor-formation to small carefully prepare the small careful regulatory environment for the small careful post-Continental-One reckoning. The Continental One had not, in 1968, been named. We named it in 1971 at the small careful three-year-anniversary colloquium. The Continental Two we named at the 1985 retirement-colloquium. The Continental Three we named at the small careful 1995 ten-year-from-Continental-Two colloquium. The naming-pace is — by the small careful 1968-Hangzhou-Six convention — the small careful seven-IRL-year-cycle's small careful pre-event-naming."

She paused.

She said: "I have been at the small careful White Crane corner-window table on Wednesdays at four PM since 1985 — the year I retired from HZUT and took up the organizer role full-time. The Wednesday-window has been the small careful naming-window the convention's small careful Quiet-Hand-to-guild-commander naming-event would, by the convention's small careful 46-IRL-year preparation-pace, eventually be at. The small careful 46-IRL-year preparation has, by the small careful Saturday Nov 29 chamber promotion + the Saturday Nov 29 afternoon kitchen-table sitting-transfer at your mother's flat + the small careful Wednesday Dec 10 my own small careful Wednesday-window check + the small careful Saturday Dec 13 chestnut-cone invitation + the small careful Sunday Dec 14 Su family elder-of-the-table acknowledgment, reached the small careful four-civic-line intersection-at-Severing-Light. The naming-event is, by the convention, this Wednesday at this small careful four-PM."

She picked up the small folded square at the east edge.

She unfolded it.

The small unfolded sheet was — at the IRL render — a small careful single page of green rice paper with twelve careful lines in her own pencil hand. The page was titled at the top: *Hangzhou-Six 1968-founding-formation Charter*.

She read the twelve lines aloud.

The twelve lines were the small careful Hangzhou-Six's six founding principles — three at the small careful 1968-founding and three at the small careful 1972-arranging — and the small careful six successor clauses that mapped each of the six founding members to a small careful 21st-century four-civic-line intersection role. Mrs. Pan's role was the organizer. Bai Yuying's, posthumously held by Bai Yueran's father, was the small careful 12.4%-block-Article-14-oversight-instrumentalist. Mei Lanxin's, currently held by Mei Yulan, was the small careful Brigade-leadership-residual-permanent-civic-affiliate-principal. Lin Suyu's, posthumously held by Wanqing's small careful late-aunt-Su-Lan, was the small careful Hangzhou-9-cell first-cycle-adjunct-training-receipt-keeper. Sun Yiqing's, currently held by Sun Yiqing herself in the small careful southern Hangzhou apartment, was the small careful copper-coin recognition-token-keeper. Su Meifang's, posthumously held by Mrs. Su, was the small careful Pingjiang-Road auntie-network's small careful first-pair-third-pair-protector-of-the-1962-cadence-line.

She folded the small square along the original creases.

She set it back at the east edge beside the Mei Yulan permanent civic-affiliate arrangement.

She said: "Cangtian. The Hangzhou-Six 1968-founding-formation Charter is — at this Wednesday at this four-PM — at the small careful four-civic-line intersection. The Mei Yulan permanent civic-affiliate arrangement is — at the same Wednesday at the same four-PM — at the same intersection. The two documents are, by the small careful naming-event, paired."

She paused.

She said: "I have one question. The convention asks the question. I ask it: will you, at your own small careful pace, carry the 46-IRL-year preparation through the Continental Qualification Round One that opens in three IRL weeks?"

I held my eyes at the east edge of the round table where the two documents sat.

I said: "Mrs. Pan. I will."

She nodded once.

She said: "The naming is given. Cangtian — by the small careful Hangzhou-Six 1968-founding-formation's small careful naming-event-acknowledgment-protocol — is at the four-civic-line intersection's guild commander seat. Wanqing — at the adjacent west-window-of-east-window table — is at the first-pair-bonded-tactical-officer's seat. The seats are, at this Wednesday at this four-PM, taken."

She drank the third sip of her cup.

I drank the third sip of mine.

She said: "Cangtian. May I ask one further question that the convention does not ask but that I ask at my own small careful organizer's-judgment."

I said: "You may."

She said: "What is the small careful Continental Three reckoning, in your own small careful son's-and-guild-commander's understanding, going to require of the small careful four-civic-line intersection at *Severing Light* over the small careful 36 IRL months between this Wednesday and the 2017 small careful Continental Three opening?"

I considered it for the small careful eight seconds the considering took.

I said: "Mrs. Pan. The Continental Three reckoning will, by the small careful four-civic-line intersection's small careful structural pace, require *Severing Light* to be at the small careful intersection's small careful holding-corner without — by my own small careful four-things-charter judgment — being at the small careful intersection's small careful operational center. The holding-corner is the small careful four-things-charter's small careful patience-resolution; the operational center is the small careful Coalition's small careful pre-Continental-One pipeline-consolidation that the Coalition has, at this Wednesday, walked back from at the small careful December-shred-bin's small careful 22-line dropping. The four-civic-line intersection at *Severing Light* is — by the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 promotion-chamber's small careful patience-resolution chamber-secret found — at the small careful holding-corner. We will, at the small careful 36 IRL months, hold."

She held my eyes for the small careful four seconds.

She said: "Cangtian. The answer is — by my own small careful 46-IRL-year preparation's small careful organizer's-reading — the small careful answer the four-civic-line intersection's small careful guild commander seat has been, since the 1968-founding, the small careful seat for. The seat is, at this Wednesday at this four-PM, in the right hands."

She picked up the small porcelain cup at the west edge.

She drank the small careful last sip.

I drank the small careful last sip of mine.

She said: "Wednesday at four. Until then."

I said: "Until then."

She set the cup down. She stood. She walked at the small careful steady walk of a small careful 73-IRL-year-old retired-mathematics-professor to the small careful door of the White Crane and out into the small careful eastern lane.

Wanqing came to the corner-window table at the small careful three-meter mark.

She did not, at the table, sit down.

She said, in her ordinary voice: "Walk."

I picked up the small careful pencil-signed Bladeless half of the Mei Yulan arrangement and the small careful Hangzhou-Six 1968-founding-formation Charter Mrs. Pan had set at the east edge for me. I put both in the inside pocket of my dark jacket.

I followed Wanqing out.

We walked the small careful eastern lane at the steady walk.

At the small careful intersection at the small careful western boulevard she said: "Cangtian. The naming is given. The seats are taken. We will, on the small careful next 36 IRL months, hold the small careful holding-corner. The holding-corner is — by my own small careful tactical officer's-judgment — the small careful kind of corner the small careful four-things-charter's small careful patience-resolution is best at. We will be at it."

I said: "We will."

She said: "Walk me to the dorm-corridor western-lane intersection."

We walked.

At the western-lane intersection she put a hand briefly on the back of my left hand at the wrist — the small one-third-of-a-second elder-of-the-table-toast-acknowledgment gesture, the seventh use.

I walked west to A-7.

In my chest the second voice — *four-month-flat* — was quiet. The first voice — the old counter — said:

*The naming is given. Mrs. Pan named herself by the Hangzhou-Six 1968-founding-formation's self-naming-protocol. The six founding members are named: Mrs. Pan, Bai Yuying, Mei Lanxin, Lin Suyu, Sun Yiqing, Su Meifang. Three alive, three deceased. The six successor roles are mapped. The four-civic-line intersection at Severing Light is at the holding-corner. The Continental Qualification Round One opens in three IRL weeks.*

I closed my eyes.

I slept.