The town of Oakhaven in Province Seven was quiet, industrial, and entirely unremarkable. It was the perfect place to hide.
For twelve weeks, a Ministry of Whispers operative, acting under the guise of an itinerant clock-mender, sat in the corner of the town's only bookstore. He didn't ask questions. He didn't trail anyone. He simply watched the door.
He watched until a pattern emerged.
Every third Forgeday, exactly at noon, a middle-aged man entered the shop. He browsed the shelves for precisely twenty minutes before purchasing a single item—always a heavy, leather-bound prayer book from the Ashenveil bindery. After paying in exact coin and speaking briefly about the weather, he would leave.
The operative sent a single coded telegram to Ashenveil: Pattern confirmed. Target identified.
Kaelen Myrvalis did not send Aven to make the arrest. He went himself.
