Volume I — Arc 1 — Epoch I
[Cycle 022 | Pulse 49:30:00 — Chronicler follow / Redaction review → Log: guild ask → steward review → apprentice redact demo → trustee seal → Crosspath check → public digest on close]
Aurelius: "A page that leaves a lane must wear a guard. Paper carries craft, but it also carries a name. Teach the hand to seal what it shows and to hush what it must keep."
Aurelia: "Yes. Let the steward hold the key and the trustees keep the door. A lesson shared without a guard becomes rumor; a lesson wrapped with a seal becomes help."
Clerk (soft): [TASK] Redaction roll — Mode: steward review of chronicler draft + Crosspath redaction pass + apprentice redaction demo + trustee seal execution + guild request response + public digest prep. Team: Magistrate Korran (steward cue), Crosspath Halek (trace & redaction lead), River Step trustees Mira & Len (escort & seal), keeper Tomas (index & vault liaison), keeper Halen (overwatch), tutors Bryn & Kalen (demo), apprentices Nia & Jorren (redact trainees), deputies Mina & Jor (escort/witness), courier guide Morn (clerk & intake). Objectives: review chronicler steward copy CL-0110.vault.recv for public fit; perform Crosspath redaction for any manifest/shard tags; run apprentice redaction demo to teach the rule; decide guild release conditions; anchor: CL-0111.redact.exec. Channel: secure → public.
The steward's lamp made a small, honest pool on the oak. The sealed page that the chronicler had left the day before lay beneath its cloth like a pact. Korran opened the fold with the steady hand of a man who has learned to measure rumor by ink. Halek stood near with a narrow tracer roll; Mira and Len waited at the door in trustee posture—visible, plain, neither parade nor prison. The town had let a chronicler see its motion; now it would ask the man's work to pass the steward's eye.
Magistrate Korran: "Unwrap it and read. Halek, keep a redaction pen at hand. If the chronicler names a node, a pallet, or a man, we redact. We will not trade our neighbors' names for a lesson. Keep craft, not case."
Clerk: [OPEN] Steward unwrap CL-0111.vault.open — chronicler page CL-0110.vault.recv; redaction kit ready CL-0111.redact.kit.
Halek read slow as a tide. The chronicler's hand was careful; his sentences described motions and the feel of a wax press rather than ledger numbers. Yet in a small corner the chronicler had sketched a maker mark too near a node the lane had asked to keep private. The line did not aim to accuse, but Crosspath's rule is plain: a map that points to a shard can become a net. Halek folded his pen, set a thin redaction stripe over the maker mark, and marked the page for steward seal.
Halek: "Redact the maker mark and any pallet tags. Leave the motion and the diagrams. If the chronicler wishes to note how a town keeps a fold, that is fine. If he maps a route to a manifest, we hold that line."
Clerk: [REDACT] Crosspath redact CL-0111.crosspath.redact — maker mark redacted; manifest tags flagged CL-0111.manifest.flag.
Morn brought a small stack of apprentice copies—a careful set of facsimiles meant for teaching. Jorren and Nia had already practiced a redaction demo at the bench: how to cover a tag, how to replace a name with a neutral term, how to mark a removed line so that the reader knows something was held back. The apprentices would show the chronicler how to honor a lane's privacy and still leave a lesson for others. Teaching the redaction was as much craft as teaching the fold.
Jorren (soft): "Cover the name with a thin wash and note redacted — steward copy. Replace the pallet tag with pallet-X. Show the motion so others learn the step, not the route."
Clerk: [SCHEDULE] Apprentice demo CL-0111.appr.demo — redaction steps x2; facsimile set CL-0111.facs.set.
The chronicler returned with a small cart and the plain patience of a man who keeps time by ink. He had asked the guild for permission to include one stewarded excerpt in a city compendium; the guild's reply had been quick and polite but had left the steward to decide what might go. Halek showed the chronicler the redaction stripe and explained Crosspath's reason: a maker mark can point to a lane's exact node and that detail might be useful to curious hands, ill-useful to wolves.
Chronicler (bow): "I do not want harm to follow my pen. If you mark redactions I will leave the pages sealed; if you permit a city exemplar, let it be the edited copy. I accept the steward's hand."
Halek: "We redact details that make a trade traceable. Show craft; keep men safe. If you accept, we will sign a steward clause and the guild may hold the redacted exemplar for study only after steward confirmation."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Chronicler return CL-0111.chronicler.ret — guild request CL-0110.guild.path; redaction note CL-0111.chronicler.note.
Mira and Len stood ready to do the simple official act the lane needed: the trustee seal. They would not only escort the chronicler but sign the redaction with a trustee stamp so that the record itself bore the town's guard. A seal does two things here—one public and one private. Public: it shows the lane did the work openly. Private: it marks that the lane chose which lines a city might see. Trustees are not censors; they are stewards of neighbor safety.
Mira: "If the steward approves, we place the trustee seal on the edited page and lodge it in the guild path only. That way the lane governs what leaves it, not the other way round."
Clerk: [PREP] Trustee seal CL-0111.trustee.prep — stamp ready; witness roster CL-0111.witness.roster.
The apprentice redaction demo unfolded behind the lamp like a small lesson. Jorren held a facsimile while Nia painted the redaction wash; Tomas read aloud the neutral substitute; Morn matched a seal with the clerk's stamp. The crowd that gathered was small—apprentices, tutors, a baker who had once lost a slip—and they watched how a craft that hides was itself a craft: to hide properly is to be honest about hiding. The demonstration taught more than technique; it taught ethics.
Nia (steady): "Redact with a strip, not a blot. Note why you redact and who authorized it. A hidden line should leave a mark that says: we chose safety."
Clerk: [RUN] Redaction demo CL-0111.redact.demo — facsimiles x4; trainees x3; tutor oversight CL-0111.tutor.oversight.
The steward read the edited page and nodded. He drafted a short clause to accompany the sealed exemplar if it was to pass to guild hands: the guild may study the redacted exemplar only within the city archive; any public mention must cite only motion, not node; Crosspath retains right to review any request for public release. Korran's ink was neat and short. He did not ban the chronicler; he made the condition a tool. A lane that gives lesson must ask for terms.
Magistrate Korran: "We will allow a redacted exemplar to go to the guild archive upon trustee seal and a stewarded guild request. Any future public print requires steward and Crosspath review. Sign and accept these terms."
Clerk: [DECIDE] Steward clause CL-0111.steward.clause — guild archive conditional; Crosspath review required CL-0111.guild.cond.
The chronicler accepted the clause without complaint and bowed twice. He left a sealed copy of his unedited draft with the steward under strict vault hold—this copy to be opened only by the steward and Crosspath if a formal complaint tied to content arises. That double-locked page would exist as an insurance: transparency for justice if needed, privacy for the lane in everyday life. The chronicler promised no public printing without a steward summons.
Chronicler (quiet): "I leave my unedited page under your lock. If the guild asks to publish, bring the request and we will read it together. I travel with ink and a promise."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Chronicler unedited CL-0111.chronicler.unedit — steward vault hold CL-0111.vault.hold.
Halek filed a narrow tracer note: Crosspath redaction done; no manifest tags left visible; maker mark suppressed; steward clause attached; chronicler unedited copy held in vault. He added a short motion to his roll: if any guild request to publish comes, Crosspath will run a redaction check and then present a single-page redaction log that lists what was held and why—no names, only categories. That log would help the city decide later without exposing the lane now.
Halek: "We keep a redaction log. If the city asks, we show what type of content we withheld—maker mark, pallet tags, or manifest lines—without naming nodes. That helps the guild correct without exposing our lanes."
Clerk: [FILE] Crosspath log CL-0111.crosspath.log — redaction summary CL-0111.redact.sum.
The apprentices had one last small task: fold a public digest that explains the lane's choice in plain trade language. It would be a short note posted at Lorek's slab: River Step shares craft. Some details held for safety. The digest would not explain what was held, only that the lane had acted and that it stands by stewardship. A public note like this reduces rumor by telling the town what the town did, not what the town hid.
Jorren (soft): "Post it plain: Craft shared; some lines redacted for safety; stewarded copy in vault. People gossip less when they know a process happened."
Clerk: [POST] Public digest CL-0111.public.post — notice text CL-0111.notice.text; bench display CL-0111.bench.display.
Night closed with the trustee seal warm on the edited exemplar and the chronicler riding out with a promise to return if the guild wished to press for a broader excerpt. Morn folded a final clerk summary for the steward: redaction executed, trustee seal placed, Crosspath log filed, apprentice demo run, public digest posted, chronicler unedited copy held. The lane had shown its craft and held its people in the same motion—both acts are essential.
Morn (soft): "We taught a man to write with care and we taught our apprentices how to cover a line without lying. That is how a town shares: by shaping what it gives and guarding what it keeps."
Clerk: [COMMIT] Snapshot CL-0111 — Cycle 022 | Pulse 49:30:00 ▪ Ch.132 ▪ Change type: Chronicler steward copy reviewed; Crosspath redaction executed; trustee seal applied to redacted exemplar; apprentice redaction demo run; steward clause set for guild archive; chronicler unedited page held in vault; public digest posted ▪ Anchors: CL-0111.redact.exec; CL-0111.crosspath.redact; CL-0111.trustee.seal; CL-0111.appr.demo; CL-0111.vault.hold; CL-0111.public.post ▪ Trustee sign: Mira + Len. Secure dossier forwarded. Public digest queued.
Post-Law Reflection: Teach without turning a lesson into a leash. If you open a bench to a stranger's pen, hold a steward copy, run a redaction, and seal the edited page with a trustee mark. Show motion not man; teach the fold, the pin, the press, and keep names, tags, and manifests out of a page meant to help. A town that shares craft must first guard the people who live by it. Keep a redaction log, teach apprentices to redact with care, and post a plain digest so rumor finds a method, not a story. Guarded giving keeps the lane whole.