Elara chose the roots at sunset.
Not dramatically.
No storm. No audience. No ancestral music.
Just the old greenhouse beneath the Garden annex, a cracked floor, three witnesses, and one letter from House Thornécroft lying open beside a pot of fevermint.
That made it more serious.
The letter was shorter than the invoice.
Worse.
Long letters wanted negotiation. Short letters wanted obedience.
Root Autonomy Claim received.
Council review delayed.
Until review concludes, candidate Elara Mirelle Thornécroft is ordered to suspend unauthorized Garden pathway use, discontinue support-root extension toward Obsidian and service corridors, and refrain from further proximity-based intervention involving anomaly subject Cedric Valdrake Arkhen.
Failure will trigger recall.
No greeting.
No closing.
House Thornécroft had learned from House Valdrake after all.
Elara read it once.
Then placed it on the soil.
The paper did not burn.
It rooted.
