Teacher Dema waited at the east stair with a list of children who had stayed behind to retrieve relatives and medicine. He knew their names and addresses, but the Registry had closed the direct passage. A frightened crowd gathered at the corner, asking which street was safe.
Ning copied the children’s names into a route list. She asked who each child was seeking. Dema named the relatives and gave the last place he had seen them. One child had returned for a grandmother; another had gone with a younger brother to the bakery cellar.
“The old stair may be cracked from the river surge,” Dema said. “I won’t send the children across it.”
Wei gathered four guards, wooden braces, and a lantern. Yan checked the relay posts on Bai’s map. One attuned post reached the central ward. He sent a short Soul-Lantern pulse ahead. Its faint shape could carry a location and distract a pursuer with one limited strike, but it could not carry anyone or support a stair.
The projection returned a view of a loose upper landing and an open alley. Yan told Wei to use the alley. The image flickered near its range edge, so he stopped it there. Bai’s runner carried the updated location, and the real team took the braces and lantern.
