Eri read the Long Reed report at the next market. She stood beneath the shade awning with the two test sheets, one for the burned pylon and one for the corrected valve. A crowd gathered around her, including messengers from three neighboring councils.
“The first trial overloaded the pylon,” she said. “The local release worked, but the equipment burned out. The coalition reimbursed the mill and its workers. Two days later, a corrected pylon passed a smaller-load test. Long Reed voted to reconnect for one hour and then stopped the line.”
A man from the north settlement asked, “Can it hold through a storm?”
“No,” Eri replied. “We didn’t test that. The pylon stayed within range at the smaller load. That’s what the result says.”
The messengers asked for copies before their councils decided whether to host a node. Gu gave Eri the corrected diagram and signed the archive source beside his name. He had also attached his written account of approving the reversed copy. The report included the failure, the successful disconnect, the cost, and the correction.
One messenger asked for the reimbursement agreement too. “Our miller will want to know how a loss is covered before the council hears any proposal.”
