The chamber for the evening's Concord session had no windows and a very old table polished by hands that remembered harder centuries. No cameras. Envoys wore field black instead of show colours. This wasn't a treaty ceremony. It was a safety meeting that could change the shape of Earth's sky.
Lyra opened with the plan. Three spines, all on one day. One at Stormgate Flats, inland, an anchor for the whole Iron Line. One on the coast. One in the hills two provinces down, where the land leans into the sea. "They are the roots," she said. "The three sea-wards I promised you on the first night will stand on them. Sea-wards come after membership. Roots come first."
