Volume I — Arc 1 — Epoch I
[Cycle 005 | Pulse 24:50:00 — Post-hearing execution / Summons delivery → Log: Crosspath summons dispatch → Trustee preps → Morn steady drills → Lorek's first teach under mitigation → Channel: secure → public digest on close]
Aurelius: "When a judge lays a summons, the town must answer with the same calm a deputy keeps. A summons is a paper that asks for a face. Meet it with ink and a hand that can hold the temper stone."
Aurelia: "Yes. Deliver the summons gently but firmly. Let the man see paper and a tutor at the gate. Mercy grows where craft shows beside the law's reach."
Clerk (soft): [TASK] Summons dispatch — Mode: Crosspath execute summons route + trustee prep for mitigation nodes + Morn continued prep + Lorek teach oversight. Team: Crosspath lead Halek (route), Magistrate Korran (steward signal), River Step trustees Mira & Len (liaison), keeper Halen (supervise), tutors Kalen & Bryn, apprentices Nia & Tomas, deputies Mina & Jor (escort), courier guide Morn (intake & mirror), Lorek (mitigation participant), assorted witnesses. Objectives: carry summons to A–C nodes, confirm receipt, set teach windows, keep witness safety active; anchor: CL-0073.summons.dispatch. Channel: secure → public.
Crosspath prepared like a man who packs a careful knife: sealed summons, manifest copies, mirror triplicates, witness booklets, and a short steward note dictating measured custody. Halek checked wax, then motioned the tracers into pairs. They left in low light, not as hunters but as clerks of law — a public move with private care. The front of the caravan bore no banners; the summons are not trumpets.
Halek: "Deliver sealed summons to nodes A–C. Offer the man a teach slot inside the hearing window and a tutor pair to assist if he chooses to show craft. Do not shout; place paper and step back. Trustees will watch for witness shelter needs."
Clerk: [LOAD] Summons packet: CL-0073.summons.packet (sealed); manifest copies x3; mirror triplicates CL-0073.mirror.trip; witness booklets CL-0073.wit.bundle. Anchor CL-0073.summons.dispatch.
At node A the ford broker received Crosspath with a face that had room for worry and for a small, steady resolve. Halek set the sealed paper down on the bench and read the nominal line: a summons to appear at steward window tick +3; limited custody notes remained active. The broker did not stiffen; he had taught in court before and now met paper as a man who knows a ledger's weight.
Ford Broker (flat): "I received the summons. I will bring manifest and host the teach inside the hour if the steward asks. I do not avoid the bench."
Halek: "That is noted. Host the teach; post hash anchors after; a trustee of River Step will sign the mitigation note if the acts hold. Keep witness safety flags ready."
Clerk: [RECEIPT] Node A summons served: CL-0073.nodeA.serve; broker acknowledgment CL-0073.nodeA.ack.
Node B — the upstream node that had faint ties — answered with a different motion: a man with reddened hands and a ledger that had seen too many hurried nights. He worried not of capture but of ruin. Trustees offered a tutor slot first, then the summons. The man chose to open his book and to set a teach before the steward's tick. That choice buys a small room of mercy.
Upstream Trader (soft): "I will bring full manifest and host a teach now. I wish the court to read my acts and my pages, not rumor."
Mira: "Then show the teach at once. A tutor will stand with you and we will post a hash slip into the mirror. That will fold into the mitigation file."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Node B voluntary teach pledge + manifest intent: CL-0073.nodeB.pledge; tutor standby CL-0073.nodeB.tutor.
Node C, the dock stall tied by stronger shards, took the summons like a man who had long hoped not to be called. He accepted the sealed paper and asked only for a short time to pull manifest copies from a locked chest. Crosspath left a tracer notice for the steward and a trustee pair to watch the stall. Law had asked; the stall prepared.
Dock Keeper (low): "I will present manifest at the steward fold. Keep a trustee at my door while I fetch what is needed."
Len: "We will stand a neighbor rota. Bring the pages; we will seal them for the bench."
Clerk: [RECEIPT] Node C summons accepted: CL-0073.nodeC.ack; trustee escort assigned CL-0073.nodeC.escort.
Crosspath returned with the public receipts noted and with a quieter set of facts: two voluntary teaches scheduled, one pledged manifest, and one dock keeper requesting a trustee guard while he fetches sealed pages. The tracers had done their careful work; the summons had been carried not as a threat but as a prompt for paper and act.
Halek: "We served summons without force. Where men take paper and host teaches, the court will weigh craft beside the charge. Where they do not, the net will tighten. We keep the line neat."
Clerk: [POST] Summons delivery digest CL-0073.summons.delivered — A: ack; B: voluntary teach pledge; C: manifest intent; anchor CL-0073.summons.complete.
While Crosspath moved the summons, the tutors tightened their schedules. Kalen and Bryn split for mitigation duties: one team to node B to run the voluntary teach the trader had pledged, the other to node C to prepare a short court-side clinic for the dock keeper's manifest review. Tutors are not mercy; they are the town's offer that craft stands ready to fix.
Kalen: "Show the test, leave a comb if the repeat holds, and file the mirror slip so the steward sees craft beside the manifest. That is how a man avoids a harsher cut."
Clerk: [SET] Tutor mitigation rota CL-0073.tutor.mit — B: Kalen + Nia; C: Bryn + Tomas; comb tranche reserved CL-0073.comb.mit.
Morn kept to the clerk table like a man who had found his work's rhythm. He ran through mirror checks, sealed triplicates, and set a small envelope marked for node C's incoming manifest. Halen moved close and reminded him that chain-of-custody is a daily shave — one slip and a magistrate will have cause to lean to a harsher measure.
Halen: "Guard the manifest like a glass jar. No moisture, no smear, two wax checks. If a trustee brings a packet late, seal it on arrival and do not break the chain."
Morn: "I will keep the mirror clean. I seal on arrival and leave a second copy in the clerk vault. No loose pages."
Clerk: [LOG] Morn intake readiness CL-0073.morn.ready — node C manifest envelope reserved CL-0073.nodeC.env.
In the market Lorek prepared his first mitigation teach under the town's watch. He had pledged extra hours; today his stall would host a buyer-focused clinic: how to ask for a mint, how to read a seller's hash, and a short apprentice demo by Jorren. Lorek did not seek indulgence; he wanted buyer trust. The trustees would fold his act into the mitigation note.
Lorek: "Teach the buyers how to test. Let them ask and demand the mint. If they ask, we keep steady trade."
Jorren: "I will show what I learned. I will not shake."
Clerk: [EXECUTE] Lorek mitigation teach CL-0073.lorek.teach1 — attendees: 12; apprentice demo Jorren; mirror hash posted CL-0073.lorek.hash.post.
The crowd watched with the low curiosity of a place that measures practical payoff. A buyer tested a pack under Jorren's guide and left a hash slip. Two neighbors then bought small lots with the buyer test in front of them. These returns — small and not loud — are the arithmetic the trustees prefer: a buyer returns, a stall steadies, and a magistrate sees proof.
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Buyer return notes from Lorek teach CL-0073.lorek.buyers; attach to mitigation file CL-0073.mit.attach1.
Back at the hall Halek filed a short tracer update: one of the faint ties, the ferry trader with the red knot, had accepted a summons and had agreed to bring his ledger in sealed form. That turned a faint tie to a formal process. Crosspath would carry the sealed ledger into the steward packet and index it for the next hearing.
Halek: "We have voluntary ledger delivery for the ferry trader. That will let the steward read ink beside witness and move with less blind force."
Clerk: [ATTACH] Ferry trader ledger pledge CL-0073.ferry.pledge.attach; index note CL-0073.ferry.index.note.
The trustees kept a small, steady focus on witness care. Mina walked the shelter flag list and confirmed neighbor rotas for the witnesses who had stood. The shelter token system — a hushband of neighbors who watch doors and a small chest of bread for those who cannot sleep — had turned fear into a civic routine. Witnesses were people first and instruments second.
Mina: "We keep the shelter and the rota. If a man needs a roof, he gets it. Courage needs small towns to stand with it."
Clerk: [UPDATE] Witness shelter rota CL-0073.witness.shelter — confirmations logged; bread chest funded CL-0073.bread.fund.
Night wrapped the square in a soft chord. Morn closed the last desk seal and tucked the node C envelope into the clerk vault for arrival. Halek's tracers had returned and sat by the map with quiet faces, not in triumph but in the calm a solved line brings. The summons had been carried; the town had met paper with work. That is how law bends — not by shout, but by steady hands demonstrating they can hold the temper stone.
Aurelius: "You moved paper through hands and tied craft to it again. A summons read is not the end; it is the moment a man shows whether he will mend. Teach beside summons and the court can cut less and bind more."
Aurelia: "Keep the ledger tight and the mirror bright. When a town answers paper with a teach, a judge reads mercy into the map. That is the right order."
Clerk: [COMMIT] Snapshot CL-0073 — Cycle 005 | Pulse 24:50:00 ▪ Ch.93 ▪ Change type: Crosspath summons delivered to nodes A–C; voluntary teaches set at B & Lorek teach executed; node C manifest intent logged; ferry ledger pledge attached; tutors & trustees on mitigation rota; Morn intake readiness & mirror packs secured; witness shelter rota updated ▪ Anchors: CL-0073.summons.dispatch; CL-0073.nodeA.ack; CL-0073.nodeB.pledge; CL-0073.nodeC.ack; CL-0073.lorek.teach1; CL-0073.ferry.pledge.attach; CL-0073.morn.ready; CL-0073.witness.shelter ▪ Trustee sign: Mira + Len. Public digest posted.
Post-Law Reflection: A summons is a paper that asks for a face; meet it with craft. Deliver summons without force; offer tutors at the gate; take manifests sealed and keep the chain clean. Mitigation means teach, hash, and buyer returns — not a free pass. Witness care is law work: shelter, rotas, and neighbor watches keep courage alive. Deputies and keepers win trust by neat intake, not loud claim. When law and craft walk the same road — summons, teach, seal — a town bends mercy with fairness, and the Spiral holds by steady acts, not furious words.