Silla had signed the original loss report for the spare key three years earlier. She had also signed the quiet recommendation that allowed a temporary scribe named Venn to take inventory work in the secondary stores.
The same hand that had filed the key's disappearance had opened the door for the man who would later forge the queen's seal and map the ash rotations. The connection was no longer theory. It was ink.
Elara found the healing-list copies next. Silla had received a formal notice every time residual tremor cases were scheduled for their mild tea. The notices were routine, meant to keep the rite-keepers informed in case a recovering wolf needed to stand down from ceremonial duty.
Silla had initialed each one. On the back of the most recent notice, faint and nearly lost under a later spill of ink, was a single small mark: a vertical line with a short crossbar. The same mark Sila the courier had described seeing on the sealed cases she carried.
