Turn 001 — Secure the planting, learn from the fall

Planting and drainage

Alin remains responsible for the planting schedule, the field carts, draft animals, and drainage crews until both low fields are draining and the spring planting is in. I will support her authority publicly before the field, potter, and digger households. She will choose the daily split of available hands between clearing drains and sowing; healthy people otherwise wanted for kiln work are available to her during this window.

Hobb may lend only people not needed by Alin to show the drainage crews how to cut and shore safe channels in the wet ground. They are not to reopen the old clay path or take carts toward the slumping bank. If fresh bank movement, flooding, or unsafe footing threatens a crew, Hobb stops that work and reports it; the people return to planting or safer drain clearing as Alin directs.

We will keep the present food distribution steady while seed, planting labor, and draft animals are protected from diversion. Miri will sit with one field and one kiln witness to record the baskets and jars used for the work and the stores issued to crews. This is a public count, not a seizure of anyone's vessel or mold. It will let us see plainly what was spent and prevent the injured workers' households from being quietly made poorer.

Care, inspection, and salvage at the kiln

Daia sets the limits for the two injured workers, with their families as witnesses. The worker who may do seated work can, only if willing, help Miri count and sort cold salvaged vessels; the other is not to be pressed into labor. Their ordinary food shares continue, and I will hear any complaint that their households are carrying the cost of the accident alone.

The kiln quarter stays blocked. Before anything is moved, Hobb conducts a daylight inspection with Rusk and Daia present: Hobb judges the ground and wall safety, Rusk identifies the kiln's construction and damage, and Daia may stop the work if injury risk is being ignored. No one enters a void, climbs a standing cracked wall, or removes a support merely to save brick.

If Hobb judges a cold outer area safe, a small crew working from outside will recover only loose, reachable vessels, brick, vent pieces, and timber. Miri records what is sound, what is damaged, and where it lay; Rusk may retain the technical notes on molds and firing surfaces. We will keep usable vessels for household and food needs, stack intact brick dry, and set aside ambiguous fragments rather than make claims from one collapse. If the inspection cannot be done safely, the site remains closed and the crew returns to field work. There is no firing and no rebuilding this month. Nearby dry fuel is reserved and publicly counted, not consumed to prove that the kiln can work again.

At the end of the inspection, Hobb and Rusk will each state before witnesses what they think failed, what evidence supports it, and what remains unknown. The result is evidence for a later rebuild, not a verdict assigning blame.

A small, safer clay inquiry

After Alin confirms the day's planting and drainage work have their needed hands, Hobb may take a two-person foot party upstream to locate the reported alternative clay exposure. They carry ordinary digging tools, food for a daylight return, and no cart. They will not enter unstable cuts or start extraction. Their task is to mark a safe approach, bring back only a few hand samples if safely obtained, and describe the soil layers and access time. Hobb has turn-back authority for rain, fresh slumping, or any route that cannot be returned before dark.

Rusk can compare the samples by ordinary handling and prepare a recommendation about whether a later small test is worthwhile. No one calls the source suitable, shifts production, or spends fuel until it has been tested against Claybank's known clay.

Conditional visit to Ferryend

Only if Venn judges floating debris sufficiently reduced, Alin has no need of the punt crew or their labor that day, and the kiln inspection is secure, Venn may take one punt and one companion to Ferryend and return before dark. They go to learn, not to bargain away Claybank's future: ask who manages crossings, the usual per-crossing obligations, river hazards, local routes, and whether future visitors are welcome. They may offer respectful greetings and accept ordinary hospitality, but make no promise of recurring trade, passage rights, exclusive arrangements, or gifts from community stores. They do not cross the river unless Venn judges the crossing safe and the terms are understood; they avoid discussing Claybank's stores, fuel scarcity, or kiln damage beyond what is already plain to a visitor.

If these conditions are not met, the visit waits. Venn will instead inspect the punts and note when the river becomes safe for local travel.

My work and month-end account

I will spend this month at the field allocation, the first kiln inspection, and the public records—not directing every cut of a drain or every shard lifted. I will settle disputes over carts, labor, and salvage with Alin, Hobb, Rusk, Daia, and household witnesses present. At month end, Miri and the witnesses will report the planting and salvage counts; Alin will report field condition; Hobb and Rusk will report the collapse and clay findings; and Venn, if he travels, will report Ferryend's terms exactly as heard.