Early Access for Members Only: Release Schedule

We want to make sure everyone has a chance to catch up with the trio in the Chapters between Chapters. Here is how you can read this entry:

• Member Preview (Patreon): Starting March 8, 2026, all Patreon members will have early access to the full text and cover image.
• Public Release: On March 22, the chapter will move to the main site as a permanent addition to our Free Chapters section.

New Release: Chapter #018 –
A Day in the Life of Orra-Kai

“It’s really not as spectacular as it sounds. Orra-Kai isn’t a celeb, political, or religious figure. It’s just a girl that keeps going to work. Me.” – Anna (Orra-Kai)

In this “Chapter Between Chapters,” Anna pulls back the curtain on what being Orra-Kai actually looks like from the inside. From a 5:30 AM wake-up call through Veil Hall, Scholar Ward, the Records Hall, the docks, the library, and a naming… all before dinner in the Heights.

CBC #018 answers the question people keep asking: what do you actually do? The answer is: a lot. And none of it starts with coffee.

Highlights

• The Real Job: Anna walks us through a full Orra-Kai workday at ground level: cart ruts, cold coffee, forty records to sign, and a textile shop opening that means something to the owner in the way that makes you put down what you’re doing and pay attention.
• Izrah, Off the Clock: Veil’s most formidable warrior is also, apparently, a very effective older sister. Their dynamic here is warm, dry, and entirely believable.
• A Naming: Anna holds a newborn from a Burentogor family and gives him a name. Kunar. Steady, in Khuratai. One paragraph. The parents can barely breathe. It earns its place in the day.
• The Library: Three of Charles’s books have come through binding and arrived in the Orra-Kai record. Anna has to sign them in. What happens between picking up the first one and setting down the pen is the quietest beat in the chapter and probably the one you’ll think about after.

Character Spotlight: Izrah

You’ve seen Izrah as Veil. Composed, precise, protective.

CBC #018 gives you Izrah at 5:30 AM banging through a door, managing a cart schedule while Anna holds a cup of sloshed coffee, and watching Anna and Todd laugh at the end of a long night with her head tilted approximately two degrees. She’s the same person in all three moments. That consistency is the point. Anna trusts her completely, and by the end of the day you understand exactly why.

“Time waits for no Orra-Kai. Unless it’s about the work.” -Izrah, Older Sister by Kin