The following morning, beneath a brilliant alpine sun that turned the snowfields of Mount Sunder into sheets of hammered silver, the formal chartering of the Mountain Waystation Trust was carried out at the staging post.
Before a gathering of two hundred valley wagon drivers, drovers, and village elders, Magistrate Corin Pell signed the master deed that established the seven waystations as a permanent, sovereign public commons.
Tomas Reed read the charter clauses aloud from the courthouse steps:
“Under the Perpetual Endowment of Sunder Pass, the sum of thirty thousand silver crowns, taken away from the criminal assets of General Brant and Builder Moros, is hereby vested in the Mountain Waystation Trust in perpetuity. The interest from this fund—fifteen hundred silver crowns per annum—shall be dedicated only to the physical upkeep, heating, and provisioning of Waystations One through Seven.”
He looked at Kaelen Thorne and Sergeant Jarek Thorne, who stood side by side before the assembly.
“The administration of this trust,” Tomas announced, “shall not be held by military quartermasters or town aldermen in Bellwether. It shall be held by the men who know the mountain: Master Teamster Kaelen Thorne and Master Sergeant Jarek Thorne are hereby appointed joint Chief Way-Wardens of the Sunder Pass for life.”
