The report’s final line was shorter than the reading above it.
Low priority. Insufficient corroborating data. No major guild installation affected.
Sera read the line to her coastal contact and asked who had assigned it. The scout named the regional desk and gave the message time. She had not taken the measurement herself. A municipal observer near the poorer city had sent it through a maintenance route because the main reporting office was occupied with a capital readiness meeting.
“Can you reach the observer?” Sera asked.
“Not without leaving this post. I can reach the local scout who walked the gate road.”
“Start there. I need the original reading and the time basis, not another summary.”
She asked the coastal contact to remain at her assigned position. A useful connection was not permission to strip one site of its observer because another report had become interesting.
The local scout called twenty minutes later. His name was Perren. He sounded angry enough to make Sera cautious.
