The ruling reached me while I was eating an apple.
I had cut it into uneven pieces with my left hand. One piece had escaped beneath the edge of the plate, and I was trying to retrieve it without knocking over the water when the residence clerk arrived.
"From the registry, Lord Cedric."
I put the knife down.
She waited for my receipt, then left. Nobody else came in behind her. No household representative. No person to tell me which line mattered most.
I opened the packet.
The first page set aside the finding against Nessa. Her boundary copy agreed with the earlier recorded line. The accusation carrying Cedric's seal had not established a false copy, and the household evidence contradicted the basis used to dismiss her.
I read it slowly enough to hear the words in my head.
Not insufficient concern. Not a disagreement quietly resolved.
The finding against her was cleared.
