Early Spring, Year 1 — The Net Speaker's charge

A council for this work

At the next gathering, I ask each of the senior net crews, water households, reed workers, boat crews, shore-gardening households, and smokehouse workers to choose one working representative. These six, with myself, will meet at the end of each fifth day by the common mat while this spring pressure lasts. They are not owners of the village: they bring concerns and report decisions back. Anyone affected may speak before a decision, and Luma, Eska, Varo, and Toren retain their established authority over safe water, sound construction, processing limits, and net work.

Each work crew will name its workers and materials at the mat. The representatives will witness the tally of common fuel, rescue cordage used, fish brought in, and fish spoiled. In immediate danger, the responsible keeper may stop unsafe work first and we will review it at the next meeting. This arrangement lasts through spring fishing unless the gathering renews or changes it.

Water and the spawning inlet

Luma will close the cloudiest inlet draws after east wind or runoff, marking them plainly, and direct households to the protected seep while they are closed. With the water households, she will set a clean approach and filling order at the seep so mud and waste do not gather where we draw. No one is to gut fish, wash processing waste, or leave refuse near it. If the seep itself changes in taste, flow, or clarity, Luma may stop its use and call the council and me at once; drinking water outranks fishing that day.

The shallow inlet bearing the cut stakes is temporarily a no-net and no-gutting place. This is a precaution, not an accusation against any household or Rushhook. Neri and Luma will mark its boundaries using the existing protected-water markers, explain the closure at the gathering, and identify ordinary shoreline areas still open for work. Toren's crews retain their customary deep-water sites, subject to weather and the processing limits below.

Build the capacity before the large catch

Eska directs the first work crews. She will inspect the fallen rack, the leaning rack, available straight timber, and all cordage; first set aside any rescue cordage, then salvage sound parts. With reed workers and volunteers from the net and boat crews on fair-weather days, she will build three smaller drying racks on the hummocks, beginning with one that can safely take fish at once. She should use sound local rack practice, bracing and anchoring each before loading it, rather than spreading scarce cordage thinly across unfinished structures.

Varo will inspect each rack before fish is assigned to it. He and Eska will publicly state how much fish can be dried or smoked with the racks and dry fuel actually ready. Fuel for warmth and cooking remains separately protected. The council may shift labor from a later rack only after Varo confirms that fuel and handling can preserve its load.

Cal will organize repair of one damaged boat only after Eska has set the first rack and only with materials not needed for it or for safe working boats. The purpose is dependable local work and survey, not a long voyage. The second damaged boat is inspected and made safe from further loss, but its full repair waits.

A measured fish harvest

Toren chooses experienced crews for short, safe-weather fishing from the surviving working boats and the customary deep-water sites. They bring in only what Varo has accepted as preservable that day, plus a modest amount for immediate meals. Crew members keep the catch separated and counted by boat until it is processed, so no one bears a private charge for a common failure. If east wind rises, ice shifts, a boat is damaged, a crew cannot return safely, racks fail, fuel falls short, or fish begin spoiling, the boat captain, Varo, or Eska may halt fishing; safety and preservation come first.

The first preserved fish is entered into the common reserve under witness. The council will then set a plainly announced division between household need, crew food while working, and reserve. I will not promise equal shares before we know the catch, but neither will senior claim to a deep-water site become a claim on every fish or every inlet.

Learn before we travel

When wind, ice, and water permit an ordinary safe local trip—not a prestige voyage—Cal leads a witnessed survey of the cut-stake inlet with Neri, one person chosen by Luma, and one experienced net worker selected by Toren. They will map the visible stakes and old net fiber, note fish movement, juveniles, water condition, and any signs of recent boats or camps, and return the same day. They must not cut, seize, or follow any gear; our purpose is to learn whether this is a damaged spawning place and whether someone else has been using it.

They report first to the gathering. Only then will we decide whether to send a small, witnessed message or trade inquiry toward Rushhook or Ferryend. Until then, no one goes through unstable ice or east wind merely to be first.

I will work beside the first rack crew long enough to learn its constraints, then spend the remaining days hearing disputes, checking the public tallies, and ensuring the people doing the work are heard in the decisions that bind them.