The elders met in the archive the following morning. Muo sat at the head of the table. Daro stood by the shelves with a stack of fresh paper and a seal box. Suyin had been invited as a village observer, though she made clear she spoke only for herself.
Muo described the decision. “The council will allow Yan a complete copy of Soul-Lantern Division. The original remains with the island community. The traveler’s copy may be used for study and shared with collaborators who respect the conditions.” An elder asked whether “collaborator” included people outside the Sea Hall. Muo said Yan could share it with trusted companions for study, but the copy could not be sold or publicly posted. Yan agreed. He did not need the hall’s entire archive; he wanted the technique and a way to compare it with the Orchard record.
Yan nodded. “I accept those terms. The archive stays yours.”
Daro set the manuscript on the table. “We’ll check each leaf as it’s copied. No page should be missing or out of order.” Daro showed Qinghe the binding marks at the top of each page. The original had an index of section names but no page numbers, so they agreed to mark the copy separately in the margin without changing the source text. The archive clerk would keep a list of the leaves copied and the seal used on the final bundle.
