The meal remains untouched between Kareem Bishop and Empress Xifeng. Beside her hand, the jade token catches the pavilion’s lanternlight, its surface marked with the garden’s covenant.
Empress Xifeng
Show me the sketches. Not as an imperial order, but as an invitation the empire may accept, district by district.
Empress Xifeng
I will open the workshops, records, and surveyors to your review. No levy, office, or command will cross into your garden without its consent.
A servant places a blank covenant board beside the jade token. Its first lines are deliberately empty, awaiting the names of willing districts, artisans, and ward councils.
Empress Xifeng
Each community may petition for clean water and drainage. Each may refuse. Your garden may advise, supply patterns, and lend knowledge, but it will not become the empire’s reservoir or instrument.
The path becomes clear: Kareem’s designs can spread through voluntary petitions and recorded consent, while the garden remains sovereign behind its boundary. The first petition awaits only a willing hand.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure a willing district's petition for clean water and drainage
“"This is my sketch of the of a large filtration system. With layered charcoal and sand." I pull out another one, "gravity fed system in a house with clear waste disposal. Since we have already integrated the large city fountains and built the main sewage lines, implementing each property will be easier and easier”
SUCCESS (Great Crafting, rolled -2)
Kareem Bishop
This sketch shows a large filtration system, layered charcoal and sand. This one shows a gravity-fed household system with clear waste disposal. Since the city fountains and main sewage lines are already in place, each property becomes easier to connect.
Kareem Bishop spreads the second drawing across the covenant board, aligning its channels with the existing city lines marked in the margins.
The charcoal is costly. One of Kareem's prepared sheets tears along a fold as he opens it, forcing him to reinforce the corner with a strip from his remaining drafting paper.
Empress Xifeng
The design is practical, but the first petition must name more than a district. It must name households willing to accept inspection, labor, and the temporary disruption of their streets.
Empress Xifeng
If I choose the district for them, consent becomes ceremony. If I leave the choice untouched, this remains only a beautiful proposal.
Empress Xifeng
I can summon ward councils to hear this openly. I will not promise their signatures before they speak. Will you place the drawings before them and let the first willing district write its own petition?