Volume I — Arc 1 — Epoch I
[Cycle 018 | Pulse 44:30:00 — Mitigation follow / Tag lifecycle → Log: trustee rounds → vendor teach continuity → labeling audit → guild follow-up → apprentice comms → Channel: secure → public digest on close]
Aurelius: "A healed lane keeps its stitches visible. After the stitch, tend the cloth. If you leave the seam alone, it frays again."
Aurelia: "True. After the law speaks with a calm hand, the town must hold the work steady. Teach, mark, watch — these are the small steps that become habit."
Clerk (soft): [TASK] Aftercare roll — Mode: trustee rounds + vendor teach continuity + labeling audit + guild follow-up + Crosspath thin watch review + apprentice comms + minor dispute mediate. Team: Magistrate Korran (steward cue), Crosspath Halek (trace), River Step trustees Mira & Len (lead), keeper Halen (overwatch), tutors Bryn & Kalen (monitor), apprentices Nia & Tomas, deputies Mina & Jor (escort/witness), courier guide Morn (clerk & mirror lead), apprentice Jorren (attest). Objectives: confirm tags remain attached & legible; ensure vendor runs pledged teach slots; audit buyer slip filing; receive guild dispatch on export demo follow; keep Crosspath thin hold active; mediate a small neighbor query about pricing; anchor: CL-0103.aftercare.exec. Channel: secure → public.
Morning found the market quieter than a week before but steadier in rhythm. Trustees walked the stalls with ledger straps across shoulders not as a guard but as a promise: a hand ready to mark, a pen ready to note, eyes trained for slips turned into facts. Mira checked knot tightness on a dozen tags; Len visited the trader's slab and compared the posted pledge to actual slots run. Small work, slow reward — that is the town's way.
Mira: "Tags stay on first check. Two tags frayed at trice, we replace and note. Keep proof for the steward so the mitigation file is plain. Watch, not worry."
Clerk: [VERIFY] Trustee morning CL-0103.trustee.morn — tags checked x36; tag replace x2 CL-0103.tag.replace; trustee note CL-0103.trustee.note.
The trader had not only kept his pledge; he had expanded it. The first few pledged slots were done with tutors present and apprentice hands taking attendance. He now scheduled a steady cadence: dawn bench, mid-slab noon, and dusk sample. Bryn reported the third-bite repeat had continued on adjusted press settings; the labeling had reduced buyer complaints. The mitigation scheme was working as intended — law by craft.
Bryn: "Three slots held today. Two clean anchors; one buyer asked for a deeper soak test and left a note. Vendor handled it right. Keep the press warm, keep the tag visible."
Clerk: [POST] Vendor continuity CL-0103.vendor.cont — slots run x3; anchors x2 today; deeper soak note CL-0103.soak.note.
Morn ran a mid-day audit on the buyer slip filing process. Apprentice Tomas unfolded the clerk box and read each slip aloud while Nia checked witness initials and wax bands. A small error earlier in the week — a slip filed without the tag reference — had been corrected; the apprentices found it, re-sealed it with a note, and lodged it in the steward copy. Teach the boy to tidy a line and he will tidy a market in time.
Morn (steady): "Two slips mis-filed; one corrected. Triplicate updated. Clerk note appended to steward packet. Apprentices improving—one re-train on linen knot done."
Clerk: [AUDIT] Slip audit CL-0103.slip.audit — slips checked x42; mis-filed corrected x1 CL-0103.correction; apprentice retrain CL-0103.retrain.
A small neighbor dispute rose like a sparrow's call: a dyer grumbled that the vendor's caution tags had changed prices by suggesting extra test time, and a rival stall took it as an excuse to undercut with lower coin. Such quarrels can bloom into larger rifts if not settled with plain words. Mira asked both to sit with a trustee and a clerk to read paper rather than shout. The meeting lasted a single bell and ended with a simple accord: tag lines would not set price; they would only advise test steps. Price disputes belong to market law, not to mitigation tags.
Len: "We do not let labels become levers. Tags inform, not set price. If a stall seeks a premium, let them post price plainly; do not hide it in caution text."
Clerk: [MEDIATE] Neighbor accord CL-0103.neighbor.acc — tag rule clarified; rival agreed to post price; trustee witness CL-0103.witness.
The guild scribe's follow-up arrived in a sealed packet that morning: a short letter praising the export demo and enclosing a copy of the guild's internal note recommending River Step's fold to other lanes as a model. The guild added a caution — learn first, adapt second — and asked the steward if the town would allow a small, sealed exemplar to be kept in the city archive with the steward's written permission. The steward accepted, asking only that Crosspath be allowed to review any public report before it left the vault.
Halek: "We will let the guild archive the exemplar if the steward grants it. Crosspath will read any public report only after the steward's copy is filed. Keep the export method a shared tool, not a summons."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Guild follow CL-0103.guild.recv — exemplar request; steward note CL-0103.steward.reply.
Apprentices role-played daily duties by noon. Jorren set a mock found-slip scenario where a child drops a piece of paper on the lane. The class practiced folding, sealing, and reporting. The mock gave the apprentices a chance to be gentle rather than officious — an important distinction. Law that breeds humility stays practical.
Jorren (soft): "If a child finds paper, fold gently. Do not call the whole lane. Seal, hand to the clerk, and the clerk will read. Keep the fold calm."
Clerk: [TEACH] Apprentice drill CL-0103.appr.drill — found-slip protocol; trainees x10; pass x9.
Halek ran a short thin-watch review. Crosspath would remain on soft patrol for one more week and then lapse unless new flags appeared. He confirmed his runners' logs: T. Mar's note sealed, broker clearer on swap marks, no manifest ties beyond the small runs. He filed these lines into the Crosspath addendum and closed the current thread to a monitored file.
Halek: "We keep the file monitored but quiet. If any buyer anchor flags new harm, we open a narrow trail. For now: close to monitored and keep night sweeps thin."
Clerk: [FILE] Crosspath add CL-0103.crosspath.file — thin watch continue; file monitored CL-0103.file.mon.
Mid-afternoon a small communal act made the lane lighter: trustees and apprentices organized a short 'teach fair' where each stall gave a five-minute demo on how they test goods. The seamstress showed thread soak tests, the ferryman showed oil checks, the dyer showed a color fade test. The vendor with the mitigated lot set up a corner and invited any tester. The fair was not a celebration but a civic lesson: skill as prevention.
Seamstress: "See how the thread holds water. If you know the test you buy with less fear. Teach your neighbor and trade steadier."
Clerk: [ORGANIZE] Teach fair CL-0103.teachfair — stations x6; attendance x48; demos logged CL-0103.demo.logs.
By dusk the lane's ledger had grown fuller with small, good things: tags legible, pledges kept, slips filed neat, and Crosspath notes set to monitor. Morn wrote a short steward memo: mitigation active and working; trustee rounds steady; guild exemplar approved for vaulting; apprentice training scheduled weekly; pricing dispute mediated; teach fair a success. He sealed the memo and set it with the rest of the week's packet.
Morn (quiet): "Aftercare is slow work. Keep tags legible and slots running. Teach often and file plainly. If the next week has no fresh flag, we close the thin hold. For now, we tend the seam."
Clerk: [COMMIT] Snapshot CL-0103 — Cycle 018 | Pulse 44:30:00 ▪ Ch.124 ▪ Change type: Aftercare executed; tag audit & replace; vendor teach continuity checked; buyer slip audit done; neighbor pricing dispute mediated; guild exemplar ack received; Crosspath thin watch set; apprentice drills & teach fair held ▪ Anchors: CL-0103.aftercare.exec; CL-0103.tag.replace; CL-0103.vendor.cont; CL-0103.slip.audit; CL-0103.neighbor.acc; CL-0103.guild.recv; CL-0103.teachfair ▪ Trustee sign: Mira + Len. Secure dossier forwarded. Public digest queued.
Post-Law Reflection: Law's work after a decision is the quiet work of tending. Once the bench sets a mitigation path, the town must shepherd it: check tags, keep pledges, teach public checks, file each slip clean, and calm small quarrels before they feast on rumor. Apprentices learned not only the fold but the temper of restraint. Crosspath stays thin until ink demands more. Keepers and trustees hold the patch; tutors keep the slab warm. If you teach a town to test its trade, it trades with less fear. Small acts, repeated, become the law's true armor.