Orra arrived from the neighboring village just after noon, carrying a leather case and a covered basket. She was an independent healer who had not worked with Qinghe or the Registry. Mera met her at the council hall and explained that she had been invited to repeat one test, not to settle who had changed the crate label.
“I can answer what the sample does under my assay,” Orra said. “I can’t tell you what happened before the seal was cut.”
“That is what we need,” Ning said. “The route inquiry is separate.”
In the clinic room, Qinghe placed a coded vial on the table. Orra asked whether she could see the original Registry label.
“Not until your test is complete,” Qinghe said. “We want you to work without knowing which number it carries.”
Orra nodded. She opened her own case and set out a small glass plate, a pair of rods, and her own neutral solution. Her tools were older than the clinic’s, but she cleaned each one carefully. She asked Jessa to bring the control from a different bottle and keep its source hidden until after the test.
Orra drew a measured drop from the coded vial. The neutral solution climbed the glass higher than the control. She repeated the test with a fresh rod. The line reached the same point. She wrote the height and the wait time in her book before asking Qinghe what the local assay had found.
