Volume I — Arc 1 — Epoch I
[Cycle 023 | Pulse 52:10:00 — Quiet close / Redaction log wrap → Log: workshop follow → trustee digest → apprentice roster → Crosspath archive note → vendor pulse check → Morn final stitch → Channel: secure → public digest on close]
Aurelius: "A lamp that has burned through a room leaves ash and lesson both. Sweep both; keep the map tidy and the curl of paper safe."
Aurelia: "Right. When the light goes out, check what was shown and what was kept. The small acts that follow a show make a lane honest."
Clerk (soft): [TASK] Post-workshop roll — Mode: digest wrap + trustee debrief + apprentice roster update + Crosspath archive note + vendor pulse check + public calm note. Team: Magistrate Korran (steward cue), Crosspath Halek (redaction & archive), River Step trustees Mira & Len (lead), keeper Tomas (index & vault liaison), keeper Halen (overwatch), tutors Bryn & Kalen (guide), apprentices Jorren (lead), Nia & Tomas (assist), deputies Mina & Jor (escort/witness), courier guide Morn (clerk & final). Objectives: close steward packet CL-0114.session.sum; attach redaction log CL-0114.redact.log; update apprentice roster with practice hours & token list; scan vendor pulse for mitigation lot sales; file Crosspath archive note for monitored review; post calm digest CL-0114.close.post; anchor: CL-0114.postwork.exec. Channel: secure → public.
The guild room emptied like a chest whose lid had been lifted and then closed with care. Men and women filed out under trustee watch, their cloaks smelled of city dust and ink. The redaction log, now appended to the steward packet, sat under the lamp where Halek and Morn read it twice more. The log listed categories withheld — maker mark, pallet tag, manifest line — and noted the session markers and times. It was a short ledger of reasons, not a list of names. The lane had taught; the lane had also kept its small secret.
Halek: "We list types, not lines. Keep the sum neat. If a formal public request arrives, Crosspath will hand the redaction summary and show what we held by category. That gives the city a frame without unbolting our lanes."
Clerk: [ATTACH] Crosspath archive CL-0114.crosspath.attach — redact log file CL-0114.redact.log; session sum CL-0114.session.sum.
Mira and Len led a brief trustee debrief outside the guild room with the apprentices waiting in a thin ring. They did not scold nor boast. Instead they read practical notes: rota accuracy, steward hand signals, moments when guild readers pressed a page too near the mirror pad. Trustees wrote short lines of improvement and a small set of new watch rules—two-minute shifts on door duty when a crowd forms, and a quiet flag to call a tutor if a question veers to manifest. The duty was small; the result would keep noise low.
Mira: "Two minutes at the door keeps eyes fresh; a tutor on call keeps answers precise. Note it and we'll run one more rota test before end of week."
Clerk: [RECEIVE] Trustee debrief CL-0114.trustee.debrief — rota tweak CL-0114.rota.tweak; tutor on-call rule CL-0114.tutor.call.
Apprentices gathered at the bench with the warm habit of hands that had done the work. Jorren took the lead and read the roster: practice hours tallied, demo runs count, badge notes, and a short list of tokens from guild and traders. Each apprentice added a small line to their personal page — a neat habit the steward had asked them keep — and Tomas updated the index with training tags so any future query about who taught what could be found in two breaths. The lane prefers clarity to rumor.
Jorren: "Write your run, fold the time, mark the tutor. A page that shows what you did stands better than a spoken boast."
Clerk: [UPDATE] Apprentice roster CL-0114.appr.roster — hours logged; token list CL-0114.token.list; index update CL-0114.index.upd.
Morn went to the vendor's slab before the last lamp dimmed. He watched the mitigation parcel through a buyer's hand — small sales, measured steps. The tags had held; buyers that had come with coupons or with tutor tests left with receipts and calm faces. The vendor had run the extra slots promised and the trade moved slower but cleaner. Morn left a quiet note recommending one more tutor repeat at week's end to keep the net tight.
Morn (steady): "Tags worked. Buyers test and leave slips. One more repeat next week and we mark the mitigation file as sustained. Keep a tutor slot and a trustee on the first sale after that tick."
Clerk: [NOTE] Vendor pulse CL-0114.vendor.pulse — tag check pass; tutor repeat request CL-0114.tutor.req.
Halek closed the Crosspath thread for the session with a neat line: redact log filed, steward packet sealed, monitored file note set for review in one month unless the guild files a formal request sooner. Crosspath did not vanish; it settled into a quiet watchlist, the kind of attention that sits in a ledger and hums low. That is the sort of oversight a lane prefers — steady, not hungry.
Halek: "We keep this as a monitored file. If the guild files a formal public ask, we will produce a redaction summary and present it with steward counsel. Otherwise the file rests."
Clerk: [FILE] Crosspath close CL-0114.crosspath.close — monitored file CL-0114.monitor; future request path CL-0114.req.path.
The apprentices did a last drill for the night: a quiet fold, a press, a witness pin, a mirror code call. Morn watched their hands and the bench breathed easy. He signed each learner slip, pinned a small token note beside Jorren's name for his steadiness, and let the trainees go home with a small lantern each — a guild gift logged as a token for work not as reward. The small acts that follow a show are often the ones that teach more than the show itself.
Morn (soft): "One more fold, one more seal. Teach until it is habit and not a miracle. Give the lads a lamp to practice by — light grows steady hands."
Clerk: [DEPLOY] Apprentice close CL-0114.appr.close — last drill; tokens issued CL-0114.tokens; mentor note CL-0114.mentor.note.
Outside, at Lorek's slab, Morn drafted the calm digest for public notice: a clear line that told the lane what had happened and what would happen next. It read plain: Stewarded guild review held. Redacted exemplar on file. Apprentices demoed motion. Crosspath redaction log attached to steward packet. Vendor mitigation ongoing; tutor repeat set. The note aimed to cut rumor with a blade of fact. Those who read it outside the market felt their curiosity settle.
Morn (steady): "A short note makes a long quiet. People need the facts more than the theater they invent from lack of them."
Clerk: [POST] Public digest CL-0114.close.post — notice posted CL-0114.notice; question box closed CL-0114.qbox.close.
The steward docket closed with a small, practical motion: schedule a trustee check-in in one week, a tutor repeat for the mitigation lot at the next market bell, and a Crosspath archive review in one month if no formal request arrives. He signed the packet with a tidy hand and left the lamp to burn low. The city might write and the guild might call, but for now River Step had shown its craft and kept its people.
Magistrate Korran: "A show that guards what it teaches is a town's honor. Keep the packet sealed and the watch quiet. If the guild asks for print, we read the request and Crosspath will show what we redacted by category. Until then, we keep our work and our wards."
Clerk: [DECIDE] Steward close CL-0114.steward.close — trustee check-in set CL-0114.trustee.check; tutor repeat set CL-0114.tutor.repeat; Crosspath review schedule CL-0114.xpath.review.
Post-Law Reflection: A show gives lessons; the quiet after fills them with habit. File the redaction log, keep a steward packet, train the apprentice twice more, and run a tutor repeat for the mitigation lot. Publish facts, not rumors. Keep trustees short on watch rotations and Crosspath slow to open a file. Teach the hand and guard the name — that is how a lane keeps its trade true. Small acts after a lamp burns out shape a town more than any single speech.