The first public load was mostly flour.
Iven found that satisfying in a way he had not expected.
There were sacks of it secured on the little carriage, marked by supplier and receiving kitchen. A smaller bundle of fittings traveled beside them, paid private cargo for a buyer who had accepted the new route’s handling terms. Nothing on the platform had been placed there merely to make the opening look impressive.
Someone needed all of it at the other end.
Day four hundred and twenty-one began with cold mist above the river and clear air at the landings. Lurset read the weather before the first crew opened the line. The keeper called the accepted payload. The receiving panel moved across the gap.
The drum turned.
The carriage left the landing with a sound Iven was already beginning to know.
Nobody clapped.
