The farewell assembly was held in the ancient stone tithe barn of Split-Stone, lit up by forty hanging lanterns of brass and horn.
Outside, a soft autumn rain was falling across Mount Sunder, soaking the newly cleared terrace beds and filling the irrigation canals with fresh, musical runoff. Inside, the massive timber-pillared barn was packed with five hundred representatives. The ditch-wardens of all twelve mountain cantons, the elder stonecutters from Old Flint, the wagon drivers from the High Pass, and the freeholder families whose old family lands had been restored.
At the head of the long refectory table sat Tomas Reed. He was flanked by Nessa Vale and Captain Sile Rook.
Before them on the oak boards lay Tomas’s open pack frame, containing the seven ancient Oak Tally Rods of the Seven River Communities of Bellwether—carved with the notches of Fen Hollow, Brook End, White Steps, Lantern Bend, Old Flint, Reed Bank, and Willow Stair.
Elder Ronald stood up, dressed in the clean, plain gray wool tunic of a freeholder judge. In his gnarled hands he carried a heavy metal tube wrapped in oiled deer-hide.
Before the presentation of the rod, representatives from each of the twelve cantons stepped forward to place their communal water tallies on the table.
