The escort turned back before the summit heard why.
Eli learned it from the survey driver, who came into the hall carrying a route permit that would expire before another party could assemble. The driver had not been threatened or expelled. At the settlement turn, the local escort had received a recall and returned with the vehicle it had brought to guide them. Without it, the survey party lacked permission to pass the occupied lower road.
“We could wait at the turn,” the driver said.
“For how long?” Sera asked.
“The transport window closes before evening. Then the freight goes through.”
She checked the permit and sent a message asking the party to remain at its agreed safe waiting point while the recall was confirmed. She did not ask it to follow an escort that had chosen to leave.
Across the room, the dungeon leader was speaking to the moderator. She had a local engineer beside her, a woman with the same fine gray dust on her boots as the returned driver. The engineer carried no delegation banner. Her presence was a narrow opening left after the escort’s withdrawal, and the leader made that distinction immediately.
“She can discuss the equipment,” she said. “She cannot offer our residents, our road, or our reserve crew.”
