Storekeeper Ilan arrived from the nearest refuge with two grain carts. He stopped outside the tollhouse yard and asked to speak with Bai before unloading. Pel came out from the ration board and stood beside the gate.
“I want payment in coin,” Ilan said. “Not a promise that the coalition will repay me after the war.”
He pointed to the cart covers. “The first load is barley. The second is a mix of millet and dried beans. The refuge store can take the millet, but the tollhouse needs grain the kitchen can cook without a mill.”
Bai checked the listed weights. “The price on the sheet includes the sacks?”
“It does. If you return them, I can use them again. If you keep them, that price stands.”
Pel looked at the cart wheels. “Are both loads measured on the same scale?”
“The refuge has one scale,” Ilan said. “The tollhouse has another. You can check the marks yourself.”
He had brought the weighing beam from the village and set it on a level stone. Bai tested it with a known counterweight. Pel watched the needle settle before they began counting.
