Orra leads Mara through rain-slick lanes to a tidehouse built over old archival channels. Pell remains at the scriptorium, while the river custodian waits within.
The river custodian, an elderly woman with deep brown skin, silver-braided hair, and a blue wool mantle clasped with shell, stands beside a basin of brackish light.
the river custodian
The basin can expose the alteration’s originating mark, but only under a temporary custody clause. Its limits are visible, and it has not been accepted.
She sets a thin slate beside the basin. Pale writing names reach, duration, witness, and refusal, while a fifth line remains blank for acceptance.
Orra Venn
The clause must grant examination only. It cannot transfer custody, identify the protected witness, open sealed testimony, or bind Mara beyond this room.
the river custodian
Agreed. If accepted, the basin will reveal the mark’s origin and active path, then release every impression when the examination ends.
Brackish light curls around the slate without touching Mara. The unaccepted clause waits openly between them, its final line empty and its boundaries plainly marked.
““No,” I say plainly. “I have established that I am free and that the alteration has no authority over me. I am done litigating my emancipation. Show me the magical trace left by whoever altered the record. Now.” I demand.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Mara
No. I am free, and the alteration has no authority over me. I am done litigating my emancipation. Show me its magical trace. Now.
The unaccepted clause remains untouched. Mara’s refusal leaves the slate’s final line blank, while the custodian inclines her head and turns the basin toward the record’s active mark.
the river custodian
Accepted without custody. The basin will reveal the trace only: origin, path, and present effect. Nothing will attach to you.
Brackish light sinks through the coastal mark and unfolds into a black-violet filament. It leads from the altered reference through an old Domini notation, then bends toward a severed external seal.
Orra Venn
There. The alteration came through a copied legal channel, not the protected witness. Its maker left a deliberate separation mark, but no lawful authority.
The trace hangs visibly in the basin: a foreign hand rewrote the record’s custody function and withdrew along the same channel. As it resolves, two of Mara’s fingers go numb.
the river custodian
The origin and active path are witnessed. The cost is channel strain in your hand, but the trace is yours to record, and the basin has released you completely.
Record the alteration’s witnessed magical trace
Determine who altered the Domini record