Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I am beginning with events that impact our main characters. I am not going to attempt to add historical events referenced by the ephemera. All months and seasons are purely based on an attempt to reconcile weather descriptions in the books with described time frames. The books have never, to my knowledge, specifically mentioned a month in which events occurred, and seasons are only rarely mentioned.

1992: Eskander locks himself away. Wolfe is born same year or year after, depending on how far along Keria's pregnancy was when this happened. (Smoke and Iron, Annis says Eskander has been locked up for 40 years, Eskander says he locked himself up because he used too much power in an escape attempt “before the child was born.”)

2010: "Stormcrow" happens, if you're treating it as canon. Wolfe is 18.

2024: Jess’s brother Liam dies. (Ink and Bone says Jess was 9 when this happened, Liam 17)

2025: 10 year old Jess encounters the ink-licker

2026: Wolfe and the old Archivist were still on good enough terms for Wolfe to have the opportunity to hear the Archivist’s desk password. That’s about 3 years before Rome. That means that either something went wrong between Wolfe and the Archivist in those 3 years, or it was an unexpected betrayal when the Archivist sent him to Rome. Wolfe having spied on the Archivist’s password suggests that he didn’t fully trust him, even then. Some suspicions, maybe?

Summer 2029: Wolfe invents printing press and is arrested. (Paper and Fire, Wolfe states this happened 3 years ago)

Summer 2030: Wolfe released from prison. (Ink and Bone, Santi says Wolfe was in prison for a year)

August 2031(could be anywhere from May-September, considering weather): Jess takes Library entrance test. Weather is warm and sunny.

• Next day train leaves for Alexandria.
• Gets to Spain 1 day later.
• Remaining duration of train ride unspecified: another day or two?
• First lesson morning after arriving in Alexandria.
• After one week of classes, Dario steals Jess’s clothes, Khalila asks about Iron Tower.
• Next day, Dario loses Codex.

September 2031 (Morgan says she left Oxford a month ago, so if class started in August, she would be arriving in September)

• Unspecified time later, Jess gets letter from parents, steals book.
• Next day, some students start getting extra classes, Jess uses translation tags.
• Next day, still no extra classes for Jess, postulants bicker and play chess.
• Next day, Morgan arrives, confiscation training, restraint test.
• Next day, whole class lottery, students who didn’t draw tiles dismissed.
• 3 days later, Thomas first mentions press, class disarms Burner traps.

December 2031 (Jess observes fall weather in France and freezing rain in England, and we need to make the start of Paper and Fire close to one year after the start of Ink and Bone, so let's call this very late fall, right before the season changes to winter): 

• Some time later? Unspecified. Jess catches Morgan doing Obscurist things, tells her about his family.
• Next morning, class sent to Oxford.
• In Oxford for one day? Winter weather (freezing rain) in Oxford.
• Jess spends one day unconscious after being stabbed.
• Two more days in Welsh camp.
• Next day they drive to London, get on train.
• Train crashes that night.
• Next morning, Thomas shows them chess automaton (that got there fast - translation?)
• Six days in France. Morgan arrested on sixth night.

January 2032:

• Travel back to Alexandria takes a week or two (according to Google maps, could be longer).
• That night, Thomas arrested.
• Next morning class graduates.

Total time for Ink and Bone: around 1 week to get to Alexandria, approximately two weeks actually accounted for in Alexandria, 1 day in Oxford, around two-three weeks to get back to Alexandria. Unspecified time gap makes things difficult. Probably reasonable to assume it’s a full semester. Based on weather descriptions in England (edited to add: and France) and time spans given, I’m going to say the main events of the book take place from summer/early fall of 2031 to winter of 2031/2032.

July 2032: Paper and Fire begins 6 months after Ink and Bone. Jess has just spent weeks looking for a book with proof that Thomas is alive. In terms of weather, scorching heat is mentioned, so possibly summer. Let’s be generous with time estimates and say Ink and Bone ended early January this is mid-July. Not quite 7 months, but a bit more than exactly 6.

• Next day, training exercise and confrontation with Wolfe and Santi.
• Next day, Jess visits Dario and Khalila at Lighthouse, plots with Glain.

August 2032: To make this work with Ash and Quill, let’s say late enough in August that it will be September by the time they get to Philadelphia.

• Unspecified number of days pass. Research and scheming happen, Dario and Jess go to tomb of Alexander the Great, fights sphinx.
• Middle of next night, Jess and Glain summoned to High Commander, Jess goes to find Brendan.
• 3 days later, Dario asks Scholar Prakesh to help.
• Next day, Scholar Prakesh is killed. Jess goes first looking for Brendan, then to Wolfe, mesmer gets Wolfe’s memories back, Morgan escapes and meets Jess.
• Next morning, Jess and Glain assigned to Santi’s company, sent to Rome, fight Burners, meet Dario and Khalila.
• That night, kids and Santi meet in atrium, Jess scouts tunnels.
• Next morning, they rescue Thomas, Dario captured, rest translate to the Iron Tower
• Next day, they find the Black Archives, Artifex shows up with Dario, Black Archives burned, Obscurist Magnus killed after translating the group to London, group meets Brightwell family, go to Serapeum, double crossing and backstabbing occur, group is sent to Philadelphia.

Total time for Paper and Fire: One month. We are interpreting that unspecified time gap VERY generously to make this work with the timeline. At least this makes Dario’s impatience a bit more logical. There is no other way for this to work with the next book starting in the fall and no time in between. I really, really wish that 6 months wasn’t so clearly and repeatedly stated.

September 2032: Group translates into Philadelphia, put in prison. Season is specifically named as fall in Chapter 2.

• Next day, Thomas and Jess meet with Beck, bombardment happens, Santi severely burned, Jess and Thomas visit workshop.
• Next day, Santi moved to doctor’s house, Jess and Dario go shopping and scouting.
• Unspecified time gap working on press. Chapter 3 ends with shopping, 4 picks up with press 1/3 done. Doesn’t seem to be very long, possibly same day. Students scheme, visit Wolfe and Santi at the doctor’s house and scheme more.
• Next day, Jess and Thomas work on press, Morgan and Glain figure out how to make a Codex.
• Next day, Glain shows Jess evidence Burners attacked jail, more work on press, Wolfe and Santi visit workshop.
• Late that night/early next morning, Morgan makes Codex, Jess contacts Brendan, plans are made, Jess and Thomas demonstrate press, violence happens, group escapes with doctor and a few refugees, Library destroys Philadelphia.
• Unspecified time gap while Jess is unconscious. Jess wakes up, talks to lots of people, plans are made, Jess visits Morgan, gets drugged by doctor.
• Jess wakes up halfway through next day, party splits from doctor and refugees, encounters Khalila’s cousin, attacked by automaton lions, reprogram lions, board Anit’s ship.
• Unspecified time gap on ship. (8-15 days if we’re being historically accurate for a steamship, thanks Mazeem)

October 2032:

• Arrive at the Brightwell castle, awkward family interactions occur, Dario tells Jess about Feast of Greater Burning in 30 days, awkward dinner, Brendan tips Jess off about father’s scheming. Jess sees Morgan’s messed up power. Season is late fall, almost winter.
• Next day, suspicious Glain is suspicious, Jess and Thomas work on press, Wolfe joins them, Jess almost robs his mother.
• Time gap. 21 days until the Feast of Greater Burning. Ray of Apollo is done, press is done. Ray of Apollo took 3 days, not clear where in the time gap they started on it. Press will be shown to Callum next day. That night, Jess, Brendan, Anit scheme, Jess tells Morgan.
• Two days later, press is demonstrated, strategic betrayal occurs: Jess, Morgan, Wolfe translated to Alexandria, everyone else put on a ship.

Total time for Ash and Quill: Around 1 week in Philadelphia. A couple days in the High Garda camp and traveling. Two weeks approximately on ship. 11 days at Castle Raby in England. Total time: 1 month? Maybe another week or two, at most. Time until Feast of Greater Burning: 19 days.

October 2032:

Jess: Chapter 1 begins with Jess in jail 5 days after arriving in Alexandria. It is the anniversary of Liam’s death. Jess “was now older than Liam had ever lived to be”. If Jess turned 17 near the beginning of Ink and Bone, he’s 18 here, and this line works well. If he’s still 17, he’s talking about being older by as little as a few hours. Weather was rainy in England when Liam dies, warm and sunny in Alexandria.

• 15 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Jess negotiates with Archivist, moved to monitored apartment.
• 14 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Next day, Spanish ambassador visits Jess, Jess gets message from Morgan in Blank.
• 3-12 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 12 picks up after “a few long days”. Jess’s apartment is searched, Jess is taken to Archivist for questioning, hypnotized by Elsinore Quest on the way to think he really is Brendan, gets sent to raid smuggler’s house. Goes home, takes a 2-hour nap, wakes up and remembers he’s Jess.
• 2-11 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Early the next morning, Jess goes to the Colosseum, sees automaton workshop, including dragon being built, saves Archivist from assassination attempt.
• 1 day until Feast of Greater Burning. Probably not long after the High Garda raid and the Colosseum since he's concerned with explaining himself to Red Ibrahim. Must be same day as Chapter 21. Chapter 25 begins with Jess sending messages to smugglers. He discovers Burners have press, tells Spanish messenger he thinks executions will be moved up, raids Burner house with High Garda and finds press, sees dragon, taken to Archivist to meet up with Brendan and Wolfe, rescued by Santi’s soldiers, party reunites, Jess runs off with Brendan, goes to Red Ibrahim,  Anit kills Red Ibrahim.
• 0-1 days until Feast of Greater Burning (depending on exact time at night this happens). Chapter 34 begins right after Chapter 28. Anit brings Jess and Brendan to smugglers, plans to attack Feast of Greater Burning.

Khalila: Chapter 3 begins with Khalila, Glain, Thomas, Dario, and Santi on the ship heading for Alexandria. Bit of googling says the trip from England to Alexandria would be 1-2 weeks depending on speed, weather. They’re probably about halfway there when the chapter begins since they’re near Spain. Very cold weather. Khalila mentions “we’ve already been delayed”.  Let’s say we’re starting 1 week after Ash and Quill here.

• 12 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Khalila gets details of plan from Dario, plots with Santi.
• 11-12 days until Feast of Greater Burning (not specified whether it's the same day, but can't be long). Khalila talks to Anit. That night, sailors try and fail to kill Glain.
• 10-11 days until Feast of Greater Burning, Khalila wakes up, finds everyone in Santi’s room. They’re off the coast of Portugal near the Strait of Gibraltar, less than a day before they’re past Cadiz. Thomas, Glain and Khalila make weapons, group takes Anit hostage and seizes ship.
• 9 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 16 begins with Khalila in Cadiz writing letters to dead sailors’ families. Dario complains about how long they’ve been waiting, could be hours or days since he says it takes the king hours to get there from Madrid. King comes to take them to Madrid, they detour to Cadiz Serapeum. Rainy weather, warmer than it was on the ship but still cold. Khalila gets into the Serapeum, negotiates with Scholar Murasaki.
• 1 day until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 29 picks up shortly after Jess and Brendan run off in Chapter 28, still same day as 21 and 25. Khalila, Dario, and Glain go to the Lighthouse with letters from Wolfe to recruit Scholars. Dario is captured.

Note that it isn't specified exactly where chapter 16 fits in. It seems like it's happening right after landing in Cadiz, which should be 9 days, but no exact time is given. This gives us a gap of about a week with Khalila et al hiding in Alexandria. A less likely but possible option is that chapter 16 starts later, as little as 2-3 days until Feast of Greater Burning, meaning the group either took longer to get the ship to Cadiz than anticipated or they ended up taking longer in Cadiz waiting for the king to show up.

Wolfe: Chapter 7 begins the day Wolfe is put back in jail. He’s pretty much out of his mind at first, so we may be able to play with the timeline (was he messed up enough to miss that he was there longer than a day before pulling himself together? Says he “had gone a little mad”, but it’s his POV, and he’d downplay it). We also know from Sword and Pen that Wolfe was unhealthy enough to be talking out loud to Santi while in prison, so his timeline is especially unreliable.

• 18 days until Feast of Greater Burning, Wolfe's second day in prison, Wolfe discovers Khalila’s brother is in the cell next to his, starts mapping prison, encounters Troll, who Zara has sent as a spy.
• 6-17 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Unknown time gap. Wolfe wakes up at night to find the Artifex outside his cell. Artifex threatens to torture Santi if Wolfe doesn’t kill himself in 3 days. Is Artifex expecting Anit’s ship in 3 days? Or is he timing this around the dragon completion schedule? (Thanks for that idea, Maz). Also possible Artifex had no schedule in mind and just wanted to fuck with Wolfe, so this could happen just about anywhere.
• 2 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Unspecified time gap. In chapter 20, Wolfe has his fellow prisoners organized, but mental health is getting worse. Mysterious Qualls appearance happens.
• 1 day until Feast of Greater Burning. Khalila’s father about to be taken for questioning, Wolfe volunteers to go instead, plans to “lie” that Brendan is Jess. 
• 1 day until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 31 picks up right after Khalila, Glain, and Dario leave. Wolfe, Santi and Zara talk tactics, Wolfe and Santi talk about prison and make suicide pact, Khalila and Glain come back without Dario.

Morgan: Chapter 9 picks up right after Morgan gets to Alexandria. She is taken to the Iron Tower. In her first 4 days there, she tries and fails to escape her room, sends a message to Jess (does he receive this first one? Probably not?).

• 15 days until Feast of Greater Burning. After 5 days, she meets with Gregory, is drugged.
• 14 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Morgan wakes up, meets Annis, messes with wards to turn off listening scripts, goes to work copying scripts and sneaks message to Jess, Gregory kills an Obscurist to threaten her.
• 1-3 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 22 picks up "weeks" after Chapter 11. Morgan figures out she’s being drugged, Annis uses mesmer skills to get cooks to stop drugging Morgan. They get crystals, Morgan links the crystals, needs to kill part of the garden for power.
• 1-3 days until Feast of Greater Burning, Morgan and Annis go to air-circulation hub, throw crystal to Eskander, talk him into meeting them. He gets their collars off.
• 1-3 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Probably not long, might be same day as Chapter 24. Chapter 32 begins with Morgan and Annis looking for information. Morgan uses Scribes to find what Eskander needs, Eskander fixes Morgan’s power problems.
• 0 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Gregory drugs Morgan to bring her to Feast of Greater Burning.

Note that Morgan's timeline is a bit awkward with "weeks" between chapters 11 and 22. We can say just barely two weeks if everything in chapters 22-24 and 32 happens in the same day. It's possible that Morgan's perception of time is inaccurate due to trauma/drugs. In particular, she's in solitary confinement for those first four days, which is known to mess with people's heads, so she might have perceived that time in her room as longer than it really was. Those "weeks" while she was drugged might also have been less time.

November 2032 (has to go into November here somewhere, no idea exactly where): 

Feast of Greater Burning: All happens in one day. Thomas makes Rays of Apollo, Thomas, Glain, Khalila and Wolfe kill dragon, everyone runs into the trap in the Colosseum, Morgan and Dario thrown in after them, Obscurists show up with Eskander, Morgan kills Gregory, Zara kills Brendan, Archivist and Curia run away, elections planned.

Total time for Smoke and Iron: 19 days, according to the timeline given in Ash and Quill. Jess’s chapters have about a week actually accounted for, plus some unspecified gaps. Khalila’s only got a couple days accounted for, lots of gaps. Wolfe’s the same. Morgan's time is all accounted for, but that gap of weeks doesn't quite match up with the available time, which makes things a bit difficult. Chronological order would be Wolfe’s first two chapters, then Morgan’s, then Jess, then the first two sets of Khalila chapters, with an unspecified gap between them,  probably a couple weeks of time gap, then everything else happens over the course of a couple days leading up to the Feast of Greater Burning.

November, 2032

Sword and Pen begins right after the battle in the Colosseum at the end of Smoke and Iron. On the day of the battle, Jess's friends take him to rest in an unnamed Scholar's house, where Thomas helps him clean up and Dario and Wolfe wait with him. Morgan goes to the Iron Tower to help the Obscurists. Khalila goes to help the Scholars elect a new Archivist. Santi and Glain go to organize defenses. Thomas, after helping Jess clean up, goes to work on Rays of Apollo and automata.

The next two days are fairly complicated. All times guesstimated based on sunrise/sunset times and the stated time of noon when Poseidon rises:

•  Unknown time gap after Morgan saves the Archives. (Days)
• Jess wakes up to Thomas feeding him more antidote. Thomas has been brewing more based on the sample from the tomb. Anit is there with them. 
• Khalila comes to see Jess. She says he’s expected to need a few weeks to fully recover. They talk about Morgan and Brendan. Khalila declares Jess her brother. She also tells Jess that Thomas has created a new Curia position to be in charge of printing and offered him a job. The Burners and foreign armies are ready to negotiate new treaties.
• Jess wakes before dawn for food and a bath. He is up and walking when his parents arrive. They discuss burial plans for Brendan. Callum tries to force Jess to sign the release form. Celia, Jess, and Wolfe all tell Callum to leave. Jess declares himself Wolfe’s son.
• Unspecified time gap. Jess goes to see Brendan’s body. The rest of the pack joins him. There are hugs and declarations of affection. Khalila has been officially confirmed as Archivist. Thomas has given Jess the job of Chief Printer in the new Liberius department. Santi tells Jess he’s free from his High Garda contract and calls Jess his son.
• Anit meets Jess when he’s on his way out. Katja is with her. They negotiate ownership of a bookshop.
• Jess signs the release form to let his parents have Brendan’s body.
• Unspecified time gap. Wolfe visits Eskander in the Iron Tower because he feels Morgan’s presence. He puts on the ring and talks to Morgan. He refuses to ask about his future and turns down her offer to unlock his latent Obscurist talent, and learns she is watching over the Library.
• Wolfe gives the ring back to Eskander, and Eskander invites him in for tea and scheming. Wolfe agrees.

Total time for Sword and Pen: Two days of action, plus who knows how many days on the end.

Total series time: Somewhere around August 2031-November 2032. All months and seasons are guesstimates based on weather descriptions. A little over a year.

Character ages:

• Jess is 16 at the beginning and 18 in Smoke and Iron. Let’s say he has a late September/early October birthday.
• Morgan is 16 in Ink and Bone, between 17 and 18 in Smoke and Iron depending on when her birthday is.
• Wolfe, again, depending on exact birth date, is around 38-39 in Ink and Bone, 40 in Smoke and Iron. 
• If the estimate of his age in “Stormcrow” is accurate, and depending on exact birth date, Santi is 38-40 in Ink and Bone, 40-41 in Smoke and Iron. 
• No other characters’ ages are specifically stated.

Chapter Text

Day one: Our group are Translated from London to Philadelphia, made a scene of at some sort of book-burning ceremony at a ruined at stadium, and then imprisoned. 

Day two: Before sunrise the group brainstorm their plans to be useful to Beck. They sleep again, and it's well into daylight when Jess wakes again. Thomas taken to see Beck. Three hours later, so is Jess. Jess and Thomas make their case for the press with Beck. High Garda bombardment happens, under the cover of which someone within Philadelphia attacks with prison with Greek Fire. Santi injured. Jess goes to fetch the doctor; by the time the doctor arrives with Santi it is "near on sunset". Maybe about six pm. Santi is moved back into the prison and Thomas and Jess go to their workshop and spend the night listing their available equipment and materials for press (and secret Ray). 

Thomas says here that the press will take "only a few days", but that the mirrors for the Ray will take two days. He estimates they need a week. 

Day three: While Jess slept, Santi "woke up in some distress" and was moved into Dr Askuwheteau's house. Dario describes that as "this morning" while Jess describes "early sunlight" when he wakes, so Dario could be talking before sunrise. Dario and Jess start to plot, and go to buy glass. Dario challenges Jess to think bigger, to think about how to "win" and be ruthless. 

Unknown time spent working on the press(/Ray). At the start of chapter 4, Thomas says they are a third complete. It is late at night at this point, Diwell the  guard complains about missing his meal. Jess' hands are covered in glass cuts, and from his conversation with Morgan he hasn't seen her since Santi was moved. If Jess' earlier observations about Morgan spending "days ... in Beck's office" is inaccurate (and fuelled by Dario jealousy) then it's possible this is still day three. Khalila writes out her memorised map, and they go to see Santi. Wolfe says that the next day will be critical for Santi's survival/recovery. Thomas says tomorrow, they will cast the press parts and start the first mirror. Morgan volunteers to look for signs of  the smuggler tunnel. 

The next day (Possibly day 4): Jess and Thomas spend hours in the workshop. It's "well into sunset" when Jess is stopped from polishing. The Ray is implied to be basically complete here, just needing assembly which Thomas can do whenever necessary. Thomas says that tomorrow the press will be fully cast, and then the day afterward it will be put together. So, two days until completion.

On the way back to their accommodation, Jess sees Khalila doing her evening prayer. Fun fact; the Islamic day starts at sunset so technically this is the first prayer of the new day for Khalila. Likely to be somewhere between 7pm - 8pm.

Back at the prison, Morgan describes Santi's health, and says that it'll be "a couple of days before he's strong enough to join us." Thomas and Jess both say that they prayed last night, as Wolfe had asked. Wolfe is described as "finally sleeping" after, probably, two days. Glain comes up with the idea to make a Codex. Jess is furious worried about Morgan and hides sulking in his room while the others play cards. 

The next day (Possibly day 5): That needs some quick explanation: Glain wakes Jess early, and Jess specifically says "If this about last night" so I think it's definitely the next day. Jess fights with Glain about Morgan again, and goes to the workshop. "Half the day" passes. 

Santi appears in the workshop with Wolfe. Does not look stunningly fit and healthy. Wolfe asks when they will be ready to demonstrate. Thomas says two days, which is also what he said yesterday. Wolfe demands "Tomorrow."

By the end of this day, "the letters had been carved, the moulds made, and the metal poured."

The next day (Possibly day 6): Morgan wakes Jess at dawn, drained and exhausted after draining all the fields in her attempt to break the wall. She steals blood from him to make the Codex work. Jess communicates with Brendan. Printing press assembled and demonstrated, then destroyed. The escape happens. 

Unspecified time passes while Jess is drugged/asleep. Vague clues from the way Brendan describes having to sit with Jess overnight that this might be the first night of that, coming up, so maybe Jess has only been out of it for a few hours. 

The next day (Possibly day 7): Jess wakes in the transport. Glain says he was out for "all the night and half the day". Must be near Boston, as that's where they're letting Dr Askuwheteau and his six other survivors off. Scholar Rafa Seif is waiting for them near the ship meeting place. Once that's all done and they're aboard the ship, Khalila needs to do the evening prayer. So, again, roughly 7pm- 8pm. 

Unspecified time spent travelling on the ship to England.

Feast of Greater Burning - 30 days away: Arrive at Castle Raby, negotiate with Callum Brightwell. Dario finds the newspaper, tells Jess about the Feast of Greater Burning. Jess gets Callum's plot out of Brendan that night. Later that night, Morgan shows him her new draining powers. 

The next day (FGB -29): Glain tells Jess she's suspicious of him. Wolfe offers to help Thomas with the press. Jess can't steal from his mother, Dario agrees to, then Wolfe reveals no-one needs to steal. He just asked. 

Unspecified time: the Ray took three days to make, but in order for the next reference we get to the Feast to make sense, a full week has to have passed. So three days unaccounted for.

(FGB -22) The first Ray is ready, using the jewels Wolfe obtained. Tomorrow the press will be demonstrated. 

The next day (FGB -21): The press is demonstrated. Late that night, Jess finds Brendan and Anit. Brendan says his father will make his move in three days. Jess says that he has two days before he has to tell Morgan - before telling her there and then. If we can trust this at all, he says that the Feast is in twenty-one days at this point.

Two/three days later (FBG -19/18): The press is ceremonially demonstrated. Jess makes his move and kidnaps Wolfe, Morgan goes too, everyone else captured.

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