Iven Sorn received the first demand for neutrality before breakfast.
The second demanded an apology.
The third asked whether the hot water would be restored before everyone left to complain about the first two.
He put the requests in order of what could actually be answered.
The listening contact had been found. It had been isolated. The associated service route required examination. Beyond those observations lay a quantity of confident opinion that could have filled the municipal canal.
The guesthouse manager offered to wait in his outer office until an internal explanation could be prepared.
“We could avoid alarming every guest,” she said.
Iven looked at the examiner’s drawing. Beside it lay the exhibit office’s preserved discrepancy notice. Two offices already held facts the rest of Bellwater was discussing without them.
