Neri took the first side form away on a cold morning.
She had waited for the actual curing marks, not the day on the estimate. Rin’s crew loosened the outside restraints in sequence while Maret kept the gate on its reduced work setting. The new footing emerged beneath the boards, pale, damp and gratifyingly uninterested in whether anyone was watching.
Iven stood beyond the marked edge with a cup of tea.
He had not been asked to hold anything.
He enjoyed that too.
Neri checked the exposed face with Rin. No open pocket behind the lower reinforcement. No loose corner hidden by a flattering form. The rear access remained where a worker could reach it from the dry side. Perril’s replacement read the level staff while one of the older repair hands checked the reference mark on sound ground.
Maret increased the gate’s flow through the agreed stages.
Water struck the old moving leaf, pressed it into its guides and passed through the channel. The new independent support took the downstream demand without pushing into the buried chamber roof.
