On the second morning after the Regent’s letter arrived, Lyra found someone trying to remove the dispatch box.
The neighborhood representative had one hand on its handle. The municipal clerk had the other.
“We haven’t decided what leaves,” the representative said.
“Which is why the empty box is going upstairs,” the clerk replied. “For the pages we’re still deciding about.”
Lyra held the door open. Neither moved.
“Shall we leave the box here?” she suggested.
They set it down together.
The Regent’s letter lay on the central desk, its broken seal beside the copy they had reviewed the day before. It acknowledged the restoration of essential circulation without activation of the offered stabilization register.
