The Palace Messenger leads Kareem and Don Featherington through vermilion doors into a smaller audience hall reserved for imperial family deliberations. Archivist Shen remains behind with the sealed chamber records.
Painted screens divide the chamber from waiting attendants. Empress Xifeng sits beneath a carved phoenix, while the Imperial Guard Captain stands near the entrance, alert but silent.
Empress Xifeng
Several estate officials are pressuring lower wards to withdraw from Don Featherington’s representation. They offer private water contracts in its place, presenting withdrawal as the price of reliable service.
Don Featherington
That is a polished racket, pal. They tell folks they are free to choose, then make the public water scarce until the private contract looks like mercy.
The Captain places copied petitions on the central table. Each bears different seals, yet the language repeats the same promise: protection for those who abandon Don’s advocacy.
Empress Xifeng
The question is not whether Don may speak. He may. The question is how to protect voluntary participation without replacing estate coercion with an imperial command.
The Palace Messenger
Your Majesty, the ward delegates await a ruling, but none has consented to be summoned. Their participation must remain theirs to give or withhold.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure a lawful safeguard protecting the lower districts’ voluntary representation and access to water from retaliation
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the authority coordinating the estate officials’ coercive water contracts
“I propose protections against retaliation and service denial”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Kareem Bishop
Then protect both choices. No estate may punish a ward for speaking with Don, and no provider may deny essential water because a household refuses its contract.
Kareem places the principle beside the copied petitions. The repeated language now resembles a pattern of pressure rather than independent offers.
Empress Xifeng
Accepted. Retaliation against representation, refusal, or lawful petition is forbidden. Essential service cannot be withheld to manufacture agreement.
Imperial Guard Captain
I will mark every contract offered under those conditions for review. Until examined, no estate may cancel existing water access or impose a penalty.
Don Featherington
That is protection with teeth, pal. Folks can walk away from a contract without walking into thirst.
The Palace Messenger
I will carry the ruling without summoning the delegates. Each ward may accept, refuse, or amend the protection through its own chosen representatives.
The Palace Messenger seals the ruling for public posting and private delivery. Don’s representation remains voluntary, while service denial and retaliation become answerable offenses under imperial review.
Quest Complete
Secure a lawful safeguard protecting the lower districts’ voluntary representation and access to water from retaliation