The two carts fitted in the upper yard on day 1092 because Neri had watched two carts turn there on day 1090.
She had watched the animals as well. A painted rectangle on empty ground had missed the sweep of a head, the driver’s working place and the room needed when a frightened animal stepped sideways. The trial had moved one waiting line back by the width of Neri’s outstretched arms. Its keeper had accepted two loads and refused a third.
Now the third load waited at its own departure point instead of making the yard unsafe.
Iven stood beneath the wall with the second movement’s receiving list. Tera Koss came through first, walking at the shoulder of the lead animal. Her eight cooperative guards were serving the second of the two newly signed turns. Flour and beans arrived under a date the keepers had accepted. The seed room above the lower return remained somebody else’s store.
The native approaches were clear.
No Marcher appeared to reward the choice by crossing at exactly the right moment. Keeping an approach open mattered even on a morning when no body used it.
Nava checked the water turn. The receiving crew unloaded at the measured bench while a relief driver watered the animals. Brin carried a corrected notice to the next landing and came back with the previous version, so the two would not continue contradicting each other on opposite walls.
