7 #3

“An observer has no authority to keep copies,” he said.

“Then I’ll go on observing from my rooms,” Aelyn replied.

The first session included representatives of eight Houses, three Guard commanders, and two grain administrators. Aelyn’s chair stood at the end of the table, far from the seal and close to the door. Orla would have called it the most useful place for an escape.

Varek accepted the agreement.

The first matter was Nydel.

The injured collector requested reinforcements, new lists, and permission to arrest the families who had circulated the accounts. The captain recommended the immediate transfer of workers assigned to the red gallery. His report named Iria Thennar as an agitator and possible fire wielder.

Aelyn kept her hands on the table.

“The original debts total a hundred and eighty crowns,” she said. “With the surcharges, they exceed seven hundred. What part finances reconstruction?”

The grain administrator searched for a sheet.

“The charges cover security, transport, and losses.”

“The records cart overturned for lack of maintenance. The office charges the loss to a girl driving on the collector’s orders.”

“The girl left the jurisdiction.”

“With a wound your man intended to transport at dawn.”

Varek joined his hands.

“Lady Aelyn was granted access to understand the complexity of government. Isolated figures produce hasty judgments.”

“I read the entire file.”

“Then you know Nydel has a stone quota to meet.”

“I know the quota rose after the mine met its first target.”

Darian looked at the administrator.

“Who authorized the increase?”

“The confluence commission.”

“With my signature?”

The man turned the pages. The answer was absent, and everyone understood.

Varek shifted the matter to security. Red stone would reinforce Cendral, he argued, and delay could open a route to Ice. Aelyn requested the reports establishing that need. Only summaries signed by the commission itself existed.

“I propose suspending the transfer until an independent inspector visits the gallery,” she said.

A Rhyne councilor gave a brief laugh.

“The observer proposes.”

“My vote will be in the minutes. So will yours.”

The laugh disappeared.

Darian read the worker list. There were three under sixteen and six with dependent relatives.

“The minors are excluded,” he said. “So is anyone with a certified injury. The rest will receive wages credited against their debt at a rate fixed by the Council.”

“That reduces extraction,” Varek warned.

“Extraction will be delayed more if Nydel rebels.”

“A rebellion can be controlled.”

“It also uses soldiers we need in the passes.”

Aelyn wrote down the rate before Varek could return the discussion to the frontier. The scribe’s pen waited beside the box for minors. She pointed to the space until he entered the exemption.

Aelyn asked for the rate, wages, and every exemption to be made public and demanded a civilian inspection whenever an installation suffered a serious accident. Darian agreed. Varek added a condition: the measure would bear the joint signatures of the regent and the new civilian observer.

The trap was clear. Families would remember that Aelyn took part in a system that still turned debt into labor.

“My signature will be accompanied by the original proposal and my vote to suspend the transfer,” she said. “The inspection will include workers chosen by the affected shift.”

“That will confuse the decree,” Varek replied.

“Isolated figures produce hasty judgments.”

Darian hid a smile. Varek saw it.

The agreement was approved. Aelyn had managed to remove minors, protect the injured, and make the rates public. The adults remained subject to forced labor. Half an injustice still stood, now with her name in the margin.

When the councilors left, Aelyn copied the transport code: RO-3/CENDRAL. The same code appeared in the restricted lists Neral had managed to see. Red stone and people traveled together toward a western entrance to the mountain.

Darian waited beside the window.

“You’ve won more in a morning than Nydel’s protests did in a month,” he said.

“The protests forced the matter onto this table.”

“They also brought soldiers and burned records.”

“The records were copied. The office is still whole.”

Darian picked up the report on Iria.

“Do you know that name?”

“It appears in the file.”

“The description resembles someone.”

Aelyn felt the piece of obsidian against her wrist.

“There are thousands of women with fire in this kingdom.”

“Few confront a collector, ask about rates, and take the accounts instead of the money.”

“Perhaps the regency is teaching strategy to its victims.”

Darian folded the report.

“The officer from Cendral saw a wounded woman with Kaoran Thennar. Later, Iria appeared near his house.”

“Then your men already have a direction.”

“They searched the hillside. The niece had disappeared.”

“An efficient administration.”

Darian laid the paper on the table. His thumb covered the name.

“If it were her, Varek would try to finish what he started.”

“You were there when he started.”

“I could protect her.”

Aelyn stood.

“Isolde already knew your protection.”

“Aelyn.”

“If you have proof, bring it. Meanwhile, a woman from Nydel has made you ask about the people you tax. That should worry you even if her name is Iria.”

She left with the authorized copy under her arm. In the corridor, she marked the edge of the paper three times with her nail. Orla would understand that the sheet must travel outside the palace before Darian changed his mind.

The first session had opened an archive and a suspicion. It had also placed Aelyn in the regency’s minutes. She would have to answer to the families for every decision she signed. That responsibility was part of the access she had chosen.

Before returning to her rooms, Aelyn stopped on the illuminated bridge. The celebration continued below. Registered families ate marked bread while guards recorded who had attended. The musicians played songs approved by the commission.

On the opposite bank, a window showed three brief lights.

Aelyn answered by resting three fingers on the railing.

Before stepping away from the railing, Aelyn counted the guards watching both banks. Two had followed her answering movement. The next signal would have to travel another way.

She put the Nydel copy beside the piece of obsidian and returned to her rooms. On a strip meant for Neral, she wrote that inquiries should begin with the wounded woman and the mine families. She left out Isolde’s name.

For the first time in a year, the question of her friend’s survival had a direction. Aelyn put out the lamp after copying the exit route.