Volume I — Arc 1 — Epoch I
[Cycle 003 | Pulse 14:10:00 — Trial tick | Log: Morn deputy trial / Crosspath follow / Upstream aftercare → Channel: public]
Aurelius: "A test is not a trap if its aim is craft. A deputy must hold calm, show anchor, and let law use clean maps. The town will watch; the town will learn whether a steady hand can hold true."
Aurelia: "A hold must not be loud. It must be plain, firm, and public. Let the man show the pad; let the town see the seam. If the seam holds, trust grows. If not, law will make a mark."
Clerk (soft): [ACTION] Deputy trial — Mode: formal trial + witness review + apprentice demo under court eye. Team: Magistrate Korran (steward seat), Crosspath lead Halek, River Step trustees Mira & Len, keeper Halen (supervise), tutors Kalen & Bryn, apprentices Nia & Tomas, deputies Mina & Jor, courier guide Morn (trial subject). Objectives: run Morn deputy trial; confirm witness roster; seal hold logs; post verdict note for provisional status; anchor: CL-0057.morn.trial.exec. Channel: public.
The hall had a hush that felt like care and like weight. Benches held neighbors who had watched the town pull threads for weeks: traders who now kept mint boards, the old handler who once hid and now spoke, Reedfold keepers with hash slips. The magistrate sat as he had sat before, not with fury but with a steady eye that read paper like a map.
Halen stood near Morn with a look that shifted from keeper to mentor. He had given the youth tasks, watched him through overnights, and now he had to stand as judge's witness. Morn's hands were steady but not false steady — the kind of calm that comes from practice, not from show.
Halen: "Your worship, Morn has guided teaches, held the pad overnight, posted anchors, and led apprentices. I set him to this trial because he has done the small acts a deputy must do. His trial is to hold public, to call two witnesses, and to teach an hour within the market. I ask the court to weigh his marks with the packet we built."
Clerk: [READ] Trial packet attach: CL-0053.morn.hold.done; CL-0054.morn.hold.complete; apprentice guides CL-0056.bundle.ingest; witness roster Mina + Jor; Halen sign. Mirror anchor: CL-0057.trial.packet. Public line queued.
Morn stepped forward and did not speak long. He set the pad with a small motion and asked for two witness pins. Mina and Jor moved to stand and the clerk set anchors to log their presence. He reached for the sample the trader had offered and followed the steps he had practiced a dozen times.
Morn (flat): "I will hold. I will call witnesses. I will teach a short hour on micro-bite read and hash slips. I will post all anchors. If I fail, I will stand the town's mark."
He sealed a sample, counted bars, read the third-bite, and posted the sample slip. The apprentices watched with a quiet focus. Morn's hands did small work: thumb, press, count, seal. Each act had a ledger line attached and the clerk pad blinked green as anchors stacked.
Clerk: [LOG] Morn formal hold actions: sample sealed H-TR1; witness pins Mina + Jor logged; anchor CL-0057.morn.hold.HTR1.
Halek stood and asked two tracer questions, not to trap but to test speed and method. How does a holder respond if a faint partial match turns up in the lane? How do you escalate without panic? Morn answered with the same plain method he had shown in the field: seal, pin, call, and teach.
Morn: "You do not seize a lane on breath. You seal and call Crosspath for trace. You post anchors and keep the sample safe. Then the court reads the map."
Halek: "Good. That is the steady path. You taught that to us in the field. You now show it under court eye."
Clerk: [CONFIRM] Tracer Q log: CL-0057.tracer.QA — Morn method readback posted.
The magistrate then called for the teach hour. Morn's voice was plain as he moved through the steps: a short demo of the micro-bite, a quick hash method, and a public teach slip. He let apprentices Nia and Tomas hold the lamp and pass samples. The hall turned from hush to an attentive murmur; neighbors leaned close to see the method the magistrate would later mark in paper.
Morn (soft): "Count bars from the pad edge. Mark the nick at the third bar. If it repeats, seal and hash. Teach two neighbors the step who must post anchors next week. That is how a net shrinks."
Clerk: [DEMO] Morn teach hour: CL-0057.morn.teach.hour — apprentices Nia + Tomas assist; public demo anchors posted CL-0057.morn.teach.anchors.
When the hour closed the magistrate set his face to the ledger line. He asked for witness speak. Mina and Jor gave a short, plain line: Morn had held steady, had called correct steps, and had not seized with heat. Their pins matched the clerk's log. Halen added that Morn had paired with apprentices and had shown calm in an overnight hold.
Mina (soft): "He held the pad and posted two pins. He sealed a sample and we saw him teach. I stand witness to that. He kept right method."
Jor (flat): "He did the ritual calm and did not break a shop. He taught the method in a way a neighbor can copy."
Clerk: [ADD] Witness testimony anchors: CL-0057.test.Mina; CL-0057.test.Jor.
The magistrate paced his thoughts like a man who weighs cloth. He had the chest's crosshash, the steward's packet, the town's teach maps, and now a deputy who had shown small acts under test. He placed his palm on the bench and laid down a simple but binding line: provisional deputy status would be granted if Morn completed a formal deputy week under Halen's oversight with no breach of protocol. A final formal trial would follow that week; the court's sign would mark a deputy only then.
Magistrate Korran: "This court will grant provisional deputy warrant for one trial week under keeper oversight. If the man posts three public anchors in that week and holds any call without fault, the full deputy mark stands. If he fails, we remove the warrant and note it in the steward log."
Clerk: [RULING] Morn provisional deputy order: one trial week under Halen; requirements: 3 anchors + 1 court teach + calm holds; formal trial tick +7; anchor CL-0057.morn.provisional.
Morn bowed once, not in show but in duty taken. He had not sought a crown. He had sought a steady hinge. The crowd filed from the hall with a murmur that felt less like noise and more like the low pulse of a town that had found a small and steady plan.
Outside the hall the day moved on to the task Crosspath had left: manifest follow on nodes that had been thin. Halek's tracers moved in clean steps. They found one broker who had slipped from sight and another who had tried a nicked ledger to mask buys. A misstep by the latter left a clear ink line that matched an upstream manifest — a blunder obvious to a chest's eye. The trader had tried to hide by trimming an entry; the hand had not known that a small scrap could tie him to the net.
Halek: "Some men make a sharp error: cut a name, sell in haste, think paper gone. We saw one shred that ties a man clean. A blunder is as fine as a beam; it gives us a line. We will place a steward call for that manifest node."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Trace find: manifest shard match → CL-0057.trace.findA. Action: Crosspath summon request CL-0057.crosspath.summonA.
River Step's tutors read the day's task as a blend: follow the trace, teach near the node, and keep witness safety. Kalen packed a small kit to run a teach at the broker's stall post-call so the steward would see repair on the same page as sanction where needed. The pact had moved from threat to act and back again: law needed paper, and craft must be ready to prove will to mend.
Kalen: "Bring a teach even to a man who erred. Let the court see both the fault and the work to fix it. That will pull a better sentence."
Clerk: [SET] Post-summon tutor plan: CL-0057.postsummon.teach — Kalen + Bryn to run on call day.
There was a subtle human motion that day too. The old handler — the one who had once carried packs and now taught bench — brought a small loaf to the hall and left it with the clerk for distribution to witnesses who stood long hours. It was a soft note, an act that meant more than food: someone had learned to give back.
Old Handler (soft): "They stood long for the town. Here is bread. Let them eat and keep watch."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Old handler donation anchor: CL-0057.oldhandler.donation.
Crosspath sent a sealed packet to the steward clerk: manifest IDs for the blunder node, ledger shards, and witness booklets that the apprentices had bound. The steward would call those nodes to stand and would weigh the new paper next session. River Step had not only taught but had built neat packets so the magistrate could read both map and repair plan without chasing scraps.
Clerk: [SEND] Sealed manifest packet to steward: CL-0057.steward.packet.send.
As dusk fell a small, sharp note arrived: a middleman who had tried to hide his ledger now asked for a teach slot. He had seen the chest's map and did not want the court to hold a harsh mark. He came to River Step with a small paper and a plain face, asking to host a teach and to post mint marks as proof. Trustees marked him as a man who tried to fix a blunder rather than to hide it.
Middleman (low): "I cut a line. I see it now. I ask to host a teach and to post mint marks. I will work with the town, not against it."
Mira: "Put your teach on the board. We watch your anchors. The court will note your action. We do not hide a blunder if a man shows work to fix it."
Clerk: [LOG] Middleman voluntary teach slot posted: CL-0057.middleman.pledge.
The night folded into the small rhythm of care. Morn left the hall with a paper that read provisional deputy and with Halen's quiet nod. He walked the lane not as a man who had proved himself final but as a man who knew that steady trial week would make or unmake a mark. The town had given him a hinge; his task now was to hold.
Aurelius: "A deputy must turn small acts into a habit. The law gave a provisional mark; now keep the hours. Let each anchor show calm; let each teach show craft. A town that builds its hinge will not break when a ring tests it."
Aurelia: "And the house of law will watch for both proof and repair. Keep neat papers, keep loud anchors, and let the final trial be a check of habit, not of a show. That is the long road."
Clerk: [COMMIT] Snapshot CL-0057 — Cycle 003 | Pulse 14:10:00 ▪ Ch.77 ▪ Change type: Morn deputy trial executed; provisional deputy warrant issued; witness testimony recorded; Crosspath trace find A → manifest shard match; post-summon tutor plan; old handler donation; middleman voluntary teach pledge; steward packet send ▪ Anchors: CL-0057.morn.trial.exec; CL-0057.trial.packet; CL-0057.morn.hold.HTR1; CL-0057.morn.provisional; CL-0057.trace.findA; CL-0057.postsummon.teach; CL-0057.oldhandler.donation; CL-0057.middleman.pledge; CL-0057.steward.packet.send ▪ Trustee sign: Mira + Len. Public digest posted.
Post-Law Reflection: A deputy's worth is calm under test. Trial must be neat, public, and craft-led. Give a man a provisional mark only after clear anchors: holds, pins, sealed samples, and a public teach. If a man fails, the law must cut; if he keeps the mark, the town gains a hinge. When tracers find a blunder, bring both court and craft to the same page: summon first, then teach close by so the court sees repair as well as fault. Keep witnesses fed, keep anchors tidy, and let the Spiral bind craft and law into a steady seam.