Mara came to the storm-barrier gate with the copied dispatch under one arm. Behind her, two wardens carried a public note sealed with the city mark. The gate opened just wide enough for them to step onto the road.
Wei met them with Yan and the courier who had returned from Sol’s bridge. Mara handed over the note first.
“Iven says the council confirms the agreement,” she said. “The coalition kept its troops outside the walls and the bridge defenders held the medicine road.”
Wei read the note, then passed it to Yan. The council did not yet accept an inspection of the barrier. It would review the copied dispatch and ask for more information if its engineers wanted it.
“That’s a fair answer,” Wei said.
Yan disliked the caution. The evidence from the old records described forced cultivation debts and hidden deaths among the maintenance workers. He wanted Iven to see it all at once. But the city had not asked him to make the decision for its people.
“I can bring the records here,” he told Mara. “We can meet outside the wall. The council can leave whenever it wants.”
Mara folded the note. “I’ll carry the offer. I won’t promise the answer.”
