The gate bell

The practice was described as older than the terraces. Its wording was taught before reading, and stewards maintained the greeting across generations, with elderly participants taking the same care they had taken when younger.

The bell's lower and higher tones began nearly at once and approached one another while remaining distinct. Wenna felt their sound in her chest, and the tones separated again as their ringing diminished.

Maren restricted Wenna's permission to travellers, warning her against treating the bell as a plaything. During the assigned watch, it sounded with neither wind nor a touch from Wenna, before the woman became visible. Wenna later rang deliberately and received no visitor. She rejected the possibility that ringing brought people to the orchard and resolved to watch when the bell sounded and what arrived afterward.