By the eleventh bell, the small front consultation room of the Office of Unfinished Claims was crowded with seven people.
Hester Quill’s senior representative in Bellwether, Advocate Martin Vance—a quiet, sharp-eyed jurist with white hair and ink-stained sleeves—sat in the corner armchair with his case folios open on his knees. Beside him stood Master Orrin Hale of White Steps, representing the Council of Seven Communities. He was wrapped in his heavy quarryman’s mantle.
Tomas Reed knelt beside his pack-frame on the floor. With careful, respectful hands, he unlashed the four Master Audit folios, lifted them one by one. Then he stacked them upon the center of Olla’s desk:
Four massive volumes of approved sheepskin thick parchment. It was bound in thick calfskin over oak boards, their corners protected by brass angle-plates, bearing the Great Seal of King Alden and the counter-signed names of seventy-four town judges.
“These are the approved duplicates of the Royal High court,” Tomas said, his voice ringing solemn and clear in the quiet room. “Volume One: The Reclamation of the Four Thousand Drowned Deeds. Volume Two: The Dissolution of the Holt Monopolies. Volume Three: The Permanent Restitution of the Seven River Trusts. Volume Four: The Discharge of the Seventy-Four Repositories.”
