The Ranker courier arrived with a sealed tube and a face that had practiced not staring at Hajin's empty wrist. Hans brought him to the registry porch while Vella kept the clinic outside the business.
Marrick cleared a space beside the casualty ledger, and Lana stood ready with witness paper. Eirwen remained at the embassy threshold so the Alder could not appear to sponsor the placement.
Hajin looked at the sealed tube, then at the clinic door where the child watched Loccy's splinted arms. 'If this is another provisional badge, read the dead before the number.'
The courier broke the royal-guild wax and handed over two packets. The placement decree rested above the casualty appendix, and Hajin reversed the order before the courier could explain protocol.
"Appendix first, and the number waits until the people inside these pages have been counted," he said while he tapped the lower packet.
