Volume I — Arc 1 — Epoch I
[Cycle 030 | Pulse 59:30:00 — Guild seminar / Stewarded open → Log: seminar open → trustee escort → Crosspath monitor → apprentice demo ×3 → guild tutor Q&A (written only) → stewarded sample offer → handout exchange → Channel: secure → public digest on close]
Aurelius: "A lesson shown under a lamp is a gift and a test. Give the hand light, not a map. Let the room leave with a skill, not a route."
Aurelia: "Right. Teach the step plain, keep the face private. A city that learns the hush without prying keeps an ally rather than a menace."
Clerk (soft): [TASK] Seminar execution — Mode: open stewarded seminar + Crosspath monitor + trustee escort + apprentice demos ×3 + guild-drafted Q&A handled in writing + stewarded sample offer if requested + handout delivery + post-seminar steward packet. Team: Magistrate Korran (steward cue), Crosspath Halek (redaction monitor), River Step trustees Mira & Len (escort & seal), keeper Tomas (index & mirror keeper), keeper Halen (overwatch), tutors Bryn & Kalen (demo oversight), apprentices Jorren (lead), Nia & Tomas (assist), deputies Mina & Jor (escort/witness), courier guide Morn (clerk & intake). Objectives: run three apprentice demo runs under steward terms; ensure guild tutors only ask written questions routed through steward box; attach Crosspath redaction log CL-0124.redact.log; deliver motion-only handouts to guild tutors; record stewarded sample request path; prepare final steward packet CL-0125.seminar.exec. Channel: secure → public.
The guild's tutors arrived a tide before the bell, as agreed, their notes tucked and hands steady. The room at the city ward smelled faintly of boiled leather and vellum — city scent — and the trustees met them with the same plain welcome they offer any guest: clear chairs, a lamp, and a stewarded copy of the redaction brief on the table. Halek sat with pen and pad; he did not frown but he kept an eye the way a man keeps his hands near a map. River Step had practiced for this day until the pause had become muscle. Now the city would see only the muscle, not the road behind it.
Magistrate Korran: "Welcome. You will read the stewarded excerpt and the apprentice checklist. We will run three demonstrations. You may submit written questions to the steward box; we answer process, not nodes. Crosspath will log categories withheld. Trustees escort and witness. If you request a stewarded sample later, submit the request in writing; do not ask aloud."
Clerk: [OPEN] Seminar open CL-0125.open — guild arrival CL-0125.guild.arr; steward terms read CL-0125.terms.read.
The first apprentice run was the quietest kind of music — not for crowd but for habit. Jorren moved with the confidence of rehearsals made public, his fingers folding linen and paper as if drawing a practiced sigil. Tomas called the neutral pad, Nia tilted the mirror pad so only the hash strip showed, Morn warmed the wax pot. The motion was: index find — fold — band — half-breath pause — wax press — witness pin — mirror call. The three rows of city tutors watched pens poised like nets. The room learned the step without being given a map.
Jorren (soft): "Index, fold, band, pause — press steady, witness pin — mirror call. We do not name pads. We do not show stamp faces."
Clerk: [RUN] Demo one CL-0125.demo1 — apprentice lead Jorren; tutor observers CL-0125.tut.obs1.
After the first run Halek read the Crosspath note aloud in a short, calm voice so everyone heard the lane's terms reiterated by the thin watch: withheld categories remain as listed — maker marks, pallet coordinates, manifest lines, private trader names. He reminded the guild that any public excerpt request must be routed through Crosspath for a redaction summary. The tutors nodded; good paperwork comforts a city as much as good craft pleases a lane.
Halek: "Crosspath log attached to the steward packet. We list categories withheld. If you later seek public excerpt, file a formal request and Crosspath will produce a redaction summary."
Clerk: [LOG] Crosspath session CL-0125.crosspath.session — categories affirmed CL-0125.redact.log.
The guild's first set of written questions arrived through the steward box: simple, practical items. "How long a pause between band and press?" "What makes a bad fold?" "How to train a mirror call for a crowd?" Each question was answered in process-only lines by Bryn, who had taught the apprentices, and those replies were handed back in neat ink. Tutors write their questions because ink slows the urge to pry; a written query is a civilized thing.
Bryn (plain): "Pause: half a breath, counted in the chest. Bad fold: twists a corner that hides a code. Mirror call: use one clear word and the same cadence every time."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Guild Qs CL-0125.guild.qs1 — answered CL-0125.qs.ans1.
The second demo refined the details. Jorren shortened his pause, then softened it until it rested like a small breath; Nia smoothed the band; Tomas read the index line without pause. The tutors watched the hand arcs where Crosspath had asked to hide the press face; the staging kept the wax bloom from showing the maker angle. A tutor from the city scribbled a diagram of hand arcs, not stamp faces, and nodded as if relieved that a craft can travel without a road.
Tutor (city): "Your staging hides the press face well. The hand arc diagram will help our tutors teach this at the city."
Clerk: [RUN] Demo two CL-0125.demo2 — refinement run CL-0125.refine.run.
Between runs the steward offered the guild a stewarded sample path if they wished to inspect a parcel under steward watch later. The guild paused — a city's habit is to think a sample is proof — but they accepted the steward's terms: any sample would be viewed in the steward room, with trustees present and with Crosspath note appended; no sample leaves the room without a stewarded report. The guild agreed in ink and left a formal request to be activated only if the city schedules an export demonstration. For now they were content with the motion.
Guild scribe: "We accept steward conditions for a sample. We do not request a sample now. If we later file for public excerpt, we shall follow Crosspath's redaction path."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Sample request CL-0125.sample.req — deferred CL-0125.sample.defer.
The third run was a public teach, intentionally staged where a cluster of neighbors sat along the room's edge to see their apprentices take the city's gaze. Bryn asked tutors and trustees to note how apprentices handled interruptions: a man coughing, a child's rustle, a late arrival. Jorren paused through each distraction and the apprentice's hands found their rhythm again. The room saw not perfection but stead — that stead is what makes craft useful rather than theatrical.
Clerk: [RUN] Demo three CL-0125.demo3 — public teach run CL-0125.public.run.
A small moment came when a city tutor, well-meaning and curious, scribbled a question at the table and then rose to ask it aloud: "Could we see a ledger example of your index?" The written box method called for written submission; the tutor misread the rule in a warm rush. Mina stepped forward, gentle and direct, and reminded the room of steward terms. The tutor smiled, sat, and wrote the question. The steward later answered with the pre-approved phrasing limits: abstract method only, no ledger examples. The trustees' calm enforcement turned a slip into a small teaching moment.
Mina (soft): "Write it and leave it in the box. We answer in ink; we do not show ledger examples aloud."
Clerk: [MEDIATE] Spoken-to-written CL-0125.mediate — steward box use CL-0125.box.use.
The guild tutors asked in writing for a short workshop on crowd control — how to keep a public teach focused on motion when curiosity drives questions to names. Kalen answered with a few lines: set a question box, open one Q&A slot at the end, use a trustee to read and filter questions, and train apprentices to close answers with the steward clause when they touch nodes. The city tutors copied the method into their notes and marked it as useful. Craft travels better when rooms teach how to ask politely.
Kalen: "Box questions, filter with a trustee, answer process not path, close with steward clause. That keeps a room calm."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Crowd-control Q CL-0125.crowd.q — answered CL-0125.crowd.ans.
The handout exchange felt like a ceremony by habit: Bryn and Jorren presented the motion-only packets to the guild tutors, who accepted them with a nod and a formal signature acknowledging steward terms. Each packet carried the apprentice checklist, the explicit deferral line, and the Crosspath note appended. Halek stamped the log and the guild scribe signed a receipt. Paper again proved both a map of what was shown and proof of what was withheld. City and lane met on ink that both trusted.
Clerk: [EXCHANGE] Handouts CL-0125.handouts.exec — packets delivered CL-0125.packets.del; guild receipts CL-0125.guild.recv.
Toward the close, a senior city tutor asked in writing whether River Step would permit a future co-teaching slot where one of the apprentices might visit the city to show the motion in a joint seminar under steward terms. The steward read the request and offered the lane's standard answer: such a visit might be possible, but only after an apprenticeship vet and a trustee escort are approved; Crosspath would review for redaction risk and the vendor communities must be notified if any tie might be named. The guild accepted the procedural outline and filed a formal visit request to be considered later.
Magistrate Korran: "We do not forbid visits but we require vetting, trustee escort, Crosspath review, and due notice to any named vendor. File an official visit request and Crosspath will append a redaction pre-check."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Guild visit intent CL-0125.visit.int — steward reply CL-0125.visit.reply.
When the lamp dimmed to evening, the steward closed the seminar in a small ritual: Halek read the Crosspath session note; Mira and Len signed a trustee line confirming escort duty; Bryn handed the apprentices a short commendation for stead; Jorren bowed but kept his hands folded — a quiet pride that reads like ink more than words. The guild tutors thanked the bench in ink and left with handouts folded and a promise to send a public-excerpt request only if they followed Crosspath's path first.
Morn (soft): "A calm close hands the room back to the lane. We taught motion; the city may learn craft; we kept the lane's faces tucked away. That is enough."
Clerk: [CLOSE] Seminar close CL-0125.close — Crosspath log attached CL-0125.redact.log; trustee seals CL-0125.trustee.seals; handouts delivered CL-0125.handouts.done.
Post-seminar, apprentices filed a tidy note into the bench log: practice runs x5, calm-test pass, handouts packed and delivered, trustee rota maintained, Crosspath entries appended. Bryn recommended one more rehearsal next week for the visiting apprentice-visit protocol and asked that a trustee observe the session to ensure the deferral clause becomes habit. The steward agreed and placed the follow rehearsal on the calendar.
Bryn: "One more run next week for the apprentice-visit protocol. Make the deferral line a muscle, not a script."
Clerk: [SCHEDULE] Follow rehearsal CL-0125.follow.rehearse — date set CL-0125.rehearse.date.
A final public digest was posted at Lorek's slab: Guild seminar held under steward terms. Apprentices demoed motion only. Handouts delivered. Crosspath redaction log attached to steward packet. Any future public excerpt must follow Crosspath review and steward approval. The note read like a stitched seam: plain, factual, closing rumor by giving neighbors the facts first. People read it and then went on with their lives — the lane had taught without losing itself.
Morn (steady): "Post facts first. The bench's quiet will do more for trust than any loud apology or defense. Let neighbors read the truth where they gather."
Clerk: [POST] Public digest CL-0125.public.post — seminar summary CL-0125.summary.post.
Clerk: [COMMIT] Snapshot CL-0125 — Cycle 030 | Pulse 59:30:00 ▪ Ch.147 ▪ Change type: Stewarded guild seminar executed; three apprentice demos run; Crosspath redaction log attached; trustee escort rota in effect; handouts delivered and guild receipts signed; guild deferred stewarded sample request; guild visit & public-excerpt protocols noted; follow rehearsal scheduled ▪ Anchors: CL-0125.open; CL-0125.demo1..3; CL-0125.redact.log; CL-0125.handouts.del; CL-0125.sample.defer; CL-0125.visit.int; CL-0125.follow.rehearse ▪ Trustee sign: Mira + Len. Secure dossier forwarded. Public digest queued.
Post-Law Reflection: Teach the hand, not the map. Open a room only after you rehearse; demand written questions; answer process not path; deliver motion-only packets and attach Crosspath's categories of withheld content to steward files. If the city asks for a sample or to visit, require formal requests, vetting, trustee escort, and Crosspath redaction pre-checks. Make the deferral line a practiced response. A lane that gives a gift of craft can keep its people safe by making clear rules, careful rehearsals, and tidy paper. Small ink and steady hands make civic learning possible without loss.