Volume I — Arc 1 — Epoch I
[Cycle 002 | Pulse 04:20:00 — Trace tick | Log: West bend sweep / Morn capture — Channel: public]
Aurelius: "A name pulled from a mouth is a small hook. If you follow it with soft hands, you catch a thread; if you pull hard, you break the strand you need. What does a town want: proof that binds or a shout that burns?"
Aurelia: "We want a map, not a funeral. Walk quiet. Let the name lead to a place, not a pyre. Ask twice, hold twice, and bring witnesses who know how to spell truth in small acts."
Clerk (soft): [ACTION] West bend sweep — Mode: dawn trace + witness escort + custody plan. Team: Crosspath tracer Halek (lead), River Step witness duo Mina & Jor, Keeper Halen, courier guide (prov. deputy), trustee Mira, clerk pack. Objectives: secure west bend route, question runner Morn, collect manifest stubs, avoid public flares, push anchor bundle to steward. Mirror anchor: CL-0042.sweep.plan. Channel: secure → public digest on close.
They set before sun's first clear. Boots knew reed and mud; the courier guide kept a slow line and the tracers read hoof-prints like a map. West bend lay where the river curved and a low bridge held a board that sagged in wet months. It had been a meeting point, a dark hour stop, a place where runners slipped coin for hands. Now it had witnesses.
Halek moved with a steady hand and a soft voice. "We work like light: show up, ask, take what proof appears, and do not break roofs. Two witnesses at every hold. No show, no shout. Keep a lane for those who will speak."
They found the west bend neat and empty at first — a coil of rope, a small bench, a clay mark in the mud. Then a bootprint that did not match any trader on the lane: narrow, quick, like a runner's. Mina knelt and read it close. "Three passes past the post, then a turn to the left reed," she said. "He moved light and fast."
Clerk: [FIELD] West bend signs logged; witness posts set; route trace open. Anchor: CL-0042.field.route.
They walked the reed edge slow and a hand rose from behind a low cart: Morn, the runner. He was tall in the way of someone who carries coin but not comfort. He wore a thin scarf and a tired grin like a man who has learned to keep still when asked.
Halek stepped forward and set the ritual: call witness, ask name, ask for manifest stub or token, and avoid rough hands. Mina and Jor set their pins. The courier guide stood close as a small, steady shield.
Halek: "Morn, we ask you to show where you met coin or to produce any stub you hold. Speak plain and the steward will weigh it with the town's acts. If you hide, law will still move. We give you the chance to help."
Morn looked at the faces and set a small palm on his satchel. He pulled a folded stub from a pocket — a torn ledger strip with a broker's alias scrawled in a looping hand: a small, oily mark that smelled of late ink and reed smoke. The name read like a bruise: Rin.
Morn (low): "I hand coin to Rin's runner at the west kiln. I meet at dusk. I thought him a broker's man, not a ring. I move packs for a coin. I name him so I do not lie."
Clerk: [RECORD] Morn voluntary stub handed; manifest alias: Rin; anchor CL-0042.morn.stub. Witness pins: Mina + Jor logged.
Halek folded the stub, read the ink by lamplight, and fed a field hash to his tracer line. The pad returned a small green blink then a deeper match when Halek cross-checked Centermirror notes. Rin's alias had surfaced before; a broker named Rin had been a whisper in Crosspath memory. Now a runner's stub had a clear curve.
Halek: "This stub ties to prior notes. We will carry this to the steward and ask for manifest pulls. For now we hold Morn lightly and ask if he will name where Rin keeps ledgers or who the runner meets."
Morn breathed like a man who had said a hard thing aloud. "Rin meets by the reed kiln at slow bell two nights in a row. He keeps a satchel in the hollow shelf. I deliver a box and leave coin. I do not know the head. I only move what I am paid to move."
Clerk: [FIELD] Morn statement logged; route match queued to Crosspath. Anchor: CL-0042.morn.statement.
They took Morn with care, not chains. Halek made one move: call a local elder to stand near, record the hand's pledge, and offer a small repair path if he cooperated. River Step had learned to make cooperation visible, and the clerk recorded each step as a mirror anchor.
Mira: "You may choose to help trace and to sit bench as a sign. If you help, we will note it as mitigation before the steward. Speak now and we post a witness safety lane."
Morn agreed and signed a small page with a shaky mark. The clerk fed the anchor and cross-sent to the steward line. The net had braided a new thread: a runner, a stub, a broker name, and a living witness.
Clerk: [DISPATCH] Morn custody & cooperation anchor posted: CL-0042.morn.custody; request steward subpoena on Rin manifest. Mirror push to Crosspath & steward: CL-0042.push.
Halek's tracers did not stop at Morn. They walked the hollow shelf he named. A low shelf under the kiln hid a damp satchel wrapped in oilcloth. Halek called witnesses — Mina and Jor — and opened the satchel like a slow seam. Inside: a small set of sealed packets, a thin ledger book bound with twine, and a handful of tokens with broker marks. The ledger's entries showed what Halek called a fast line: batch numbers tied to names and a mark that matched the stub.
Clerk: [FIELD] Evidence seized: satchel A → sealed packets + ledger stub + token set; evidence anchors CL-0042.evd.satA. Witness roster complete.
There was a thin pause. The ledger's hand listed a name that matched a broker contact in Crosspath memory: Rin. He had been present as an alias in older manifests — a thread now pulled into sight. The tracers felt the map tighten.
Halek: "We have a ledger that links Rin to these packs and to the west bend route. We will send a sealed copy to steward and request manifest subpoena. We take no triumph; we take proof."
Clerk: [SEND] Sealed ledger copy & satchel sample → steward docket; anchor CL-0042.ledger.send.
Morn's eyes moved across the packed bench and settled on an older handler — the man who had already taken bench duty and who had named runner notes before. The old handler nodded. He had given names that helped the sweep begin; now a ledger sat where his words had pointed.
Old Handler (soft): "I told what I could. The ledger shows part of what I feared. Let the court see both ledger and word."
Mira: "Your bench hours and your spoken note carried weight. The town set a map that will get the steward traction. That is what we asked you to do."
Clerk: [LOG] Old handler witness record linked to satchel evidence; anchor CL-0042.handler.link.
They moved then to custody shifts. Halek asked for two suspects who handled the satchel on dusk runs; one took a stance of silence and the other offered a thin apology and named a broker node up river where Rin met a man called Oren. The court would weigh them; for now River Step wrapped a simple plan: seals held, witnesses posted, steward called.
Clerk: [ORDER] Custody transfer request to steward; suspect handlers list compiled; anchor CL-0042.custody.req.
Aurelius watched the quiet work and spoke like a man who favors steady acts over grand speech.
Aurelius: "A ledger that lies open is a good thing. It teaches more than an arrest. Keep the law to pull threads, not to torch a net that might mend."
Aurelia: "Yes. Let the steward do its pull. Let us keep a path of repair for those who will speak. The net must make room for truth."
At dusk Crosspath sent a reply: the steward would take the ledger as formal evidence and would issue a manifest subpoena for Rin's known partners. The magistrate asked River Step to post witnesses at the next hearing and to have the seized ledger copy and Morn's stub ready. The court's net was now a loom with more threads.
Clerk: [INBOUND] Steward response: manifest subpoena ordered; hearing slot scheduled tick +2; request River Step witness packet: CL-0042.req.packet.
Mira took the packet back to the hall and set a small plan in motion: prepare bench logs, Halen's make-good anchors, Morn's sworn stub, the seized ledger copy, and the old handler's witness pledge. She asked Kalen to make a tidy bench record and Ryn to gather apprentice logs that showed how the town had taught supply. The steward must see not only crime but craft.
Clerk: [PREP] River Step witness packet build: bench logs, Halen anchors, Morn stub, ledger copy, kiln pledge. Anchor CL-0042.witness.packet.prep.
Night folded with a calm that felt earned. Morn sat at the bench under a lamp and began small repairs as a sign of good faith. He hammered soft, not loud. Apprentices watched and recorded his hours as the clerk pushed anchors for each pass.
Clerk: [LOG] Morn bench hour 1/12 logged; anchor CL-0042.morn.work1.
Before the chapter closed, Halek and Mira agreed on a neighbor teach: two tutors would run a supply teach at the kiln before the steward date to shore any gaps and to show the magistrate the town's will. Crosspath would run a small trace on Oren alias and ask nearby nodes to post any ledger shards. The map was already wider.
Clerk: [SET] Neighbor teach tick +1 → Kalen & Bryn; Crosspath trace on Oren alias requested; anchor CL-0042.neighteach.set.
Clerk: [COMMIT] Snapshot CL-0042 — 2025-10-29 ▪ Ch.62 ▪ Change type: West bend sweep & Morn custody; ledger seizure; manifest stub match to Rin; custody & steward subpoena request; witness packet prep; Morn bench restitution start; neighbor teach set ▪ Anchors: CL-0042.sweep.plan; CL-0042.morn.stub; CL-0042.morn.statement; CL-0042.evd.satA; CL-0042.ledger.send; CL-0042.handler.link; CL-0042.custody.req; CL-0042.req.packet; CL-0042.morn.work1; CL-0042.neighteach.set ▪ Trustee sign: Mira + Len. Public digest posted.
Post-Law Reflection: A sweep must gather proof with soft hands. A ledger found in a hollow is more useful than any shout; it maps the ring in plain ink. Offer a runner a path to help, log his hours, and bring his stub to the steward like a small oath. Teach near the found nodes to stitch supply holes so rings find less room. Plant neighbor teaches before court days so magistrates see craft as well as crime. Keep witnesses safe and public; let the law weigh with anchors, not rumor. The Spiral holds when towns pull a name into light with care and then hand the court a tidy bundle of proof and repair.