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