The conservator refused the largest room in the Survey Authority building.
“It has a draft,” she said. “Also, you have put the windows behind my chair, which means everyone can watch my hands while I work in my own shadow.”
Merren offered to have the table moved. The conservator, a compact woman named Orla whose spectacles hung from a cord around her neck, examined the floor, the shelves and the door. She chose a smaller room across the corridor with a north-facing window and a workbench scarred by previous repairs.
“Here,” she said. “One witness beside me, one at the far end. Everyone else sits down. If you crowd the table, I stop.”
Iven liked her immediately.
Hesta had selected Orla from the list Merren provided after checking references from two independent workshops. Rell attended for the Authority, Neri for the cooperative, and Kesh for the clinic. Elian had brought a camera and a notebook. Iven carried the ceramic tube in its padded box, along with the receipt and photographs made at the ridge.
Orla read the receipt before she touched the box. She compared the signatures with the names in the room, then asked Iven to describe exactly how he had found the tube.
