In the center of the rain-washed market square, Chief Archivist Malden dipped his steel pen into the dark oak-ink horn, smoothing a fresh sheet of heavy, gold-embossed town thick parchment across his portable writing desk.
‘Be it resolved,’ Malden dictated in a high, clear voice that carried across the listening hundreds, ‘by the Municipal Works Board of Lathmere. He sat in extraordinary field session under the power of the Royal Charter of 1688...’
Councilor Elna Vesk stood beside the desk, her traveling cloak pulled back to reveal the heavy silver medallion of a town elder resting upon her breast. Her voice was steady, ringing, and utterly devoid of pause.
‘First,’ Elna commanded, ‘that the careful evidence presented under Docket Forty-Four B by Senior Surveyor Korr Var and Miss Pella Rook is hereby admitted into the permanent town record as checked physical truth.’
A deep, collective murmur of vindication surged through the lightermen and watermen. Malden’s pen scratched rapidly, recording the historic declaration.
‘Second,’ Elna continued, ‘that an immediate emergency check warrant is granted to the High Admiralty Court, authorizing forty approved guild artificers, under the command of Surveyor Var and Miss Rook, to enter the Sluice Crown upkeep complex, unseat the lead seal on the Third Gate, and install backup pressure relief vents before midnight.’
