The intermediary would meet Sera only where the road still had ordinary traffic.
He rejected the coalition room first offered to him. He rejected a government office more quickly. Finally he agreed to speak in a carrier’s waiting shelter beside a repair yard, with a trusted witness of his own and no public announcement that he had come. Eli stayed outside until the man agreed he could hear the account. Bram remained by the road, looking at each case carried past as if its shape might answer the question before anyone spoke.
Inside, the intermediary set an untouched cup beside his elbow.
“I was asked whether I could find someone authorized to discuss confidential seal material,” he said. “I wasn’t asked to carry the case.”
Sera asked him to begin with the approach rather than what he now thought it meant. He described a messenger he had dealt with on ordinary supplies before. The messenger had offered current calibration credentials and a roster from an operating anchor project. He had said the material would be useful to a government that was being asked to contribute a site without sufficient bargaining power.
“What did you see?” Sera asked.
“A description. Part of a heading. Enough of a key format to recognize the purpose.”
