Turn 002 — Test safely; repair the ground before the kiln

Fields, food, and injured households

Alin keeps authority over the remaining wet low-field section, carts, and draft animals. With Hobb's advice on footing and drainage, she will inspect the marked ground after dry intervals. If the soil can be worked without churning it or exhausting the animals, she may finish drainage and plant it with sound remaining seed. If it remains too soft, she will not force it; mark its condition, maintain the safe drains, and set the people to ordinary field tending and repair. The report must distinguish what was planted from what was deliberately deferred.

Ordinary food distribution continues, with Miri and one field and one kiln witness recording crew issues and the injured households' shares. Daia retains final authority over both workers' limits. The seated worker may continue short, voluntary sorting or recording periods; the worker unable to bear weight has no work obligation. Their families are not to be charged for relief or used as a source of extra labor while the injury persists.

A fair firing account and a closed unsafe quarter

The damaged kiln quarter remains closed for all ordinary work. Hobb may inspect only from safe ground; he alone stops any ground-related work. No clay is taken from the old path, no wall is entered or pulled down, and no one starts a rebuild there this month.

I will convene a short witnessed account of the final firing. Rusk names the people who prepared, loaded, tended, and closed the vent; each may first speak privately to Miri with a witness of their choosing, then confirm or correct the shared sequence before Rusk, Hobb, Daia, and the affected households. The purpose is to establish the sequence and whether anyone lacked the authority, information, or safe means to act—not to compel a confession. Miri records observations separately from conclusions. No person loses standing, food, or teaching rights on this account alone.

At its close, Rusk, Hobb, and Daia will state one practical safety rule each for any future firing: Rusk on vent tending, Hobb on siting and runoff, Daia on when workers may stop unsafe work. I will announce these as temporary rules for the next trial only. We will decide whether they become standing practice after seeing a controlled firing.

A small clay and firing trial

After Alin releases the needed hands for a day, Rusk will direct one small trial with the upstream sample. Hobb first chooses a firm, dry place away from the closed quarter and any slumping bank, and may reject the site. The trial uses only a small, publicly counted portion of the dry-fuel reserve, enough for marked test pieces rather than household vessels or production stock.

Rusk and two willing kiln workers will make a few matching small pieces from the upstream clay and mark them before drying. He will use a simple, open test fire with a clearly maintained vent rather than attempt to restore the broken kiln. Hobb observes the site and runoff; Daia may halt the work for smoke, heat, collapse, or exhaustion danger; Miri records the clay handling, drying weather, fuel used, vent arrangement, and the condition of each piece afterward. The crew does not improvise a second firing if the first goes poorly.

The trial answers only limited questions: can this clay be prepared and fired in a small batch without obvious failure, and does the vent rule give the tenders a workable way to control the fire? Surviving pieces are compared among themselves and kept as examples. Cracked, warped, or doubtful pieces are recorded, not hidden. A favorable result authorizes a later, separate decision about a larger test; it does not authorize production, a new kiln, or extraction by cart.

Meanwhile, Hobb will stake the observed path of yard runoff from the old cut and propose a safe diversion route that does not disturb the unstable quarter. He may direct a small hand crew to clear only a shallow, safe diversion above the damaged area if he judges it will carry water away without sending it toward homes or fields. Otherwise the result is a marked plan, not rushed earthwork.

A single, witnessed Ferryend exchange

Only after Alin confirms that field work and the clay trial have their people, Venn and Miri may take one punt to Ferryend in safe daylight. They carry three sound, nonessential jars selected and counted with witnesses; no household storage vessel is taken without its owner's willing exchange. Their offer is simple: the jars in return for a single witnessed return crossing for Venn and Miri on a day and terms Seln's people name, or for equivalent practical information about the far-bank approach if a crossing cannot be safely arranged.

They may agree to this one exchange only. They make no standing supply promise, exclusive arrangement, debt, or claim to the narrows. They carry no account of Claybank's food, fuel, injuries, or proposed site. Venn may refuse the crossing for weather, unfamiliar terms, armed pressure, or any condition that prevents a same-day return; he and Miri then return with the jars unless a respectful gift is freely accepted. Miri records the terms exactly, including what Ferryend considers fair compensation.

My role and report

I will attend the firing account, approve the public fuel count, and be present for the trial's start and review. I will not decide a technical dispute by title: Rusk directs craft, Hobb directs ground safety, Daia directs bodily safety, and Alin keeps the fields from being raided for prestige. At month end, their reports and Miri's record will be read to the affected households before any rebuild or trade commitment is proposed.