Turn 004 — Choose the safe ground and finish the review

The second review firing

Alin still has first call on carts, animals, and people needed for field tending and the remaining soft field edge. When she releases a small crew, Hobb brings enough upstream clay by hand for one final bounded batch. No cart route, deep cut, or bulk extraction begins. Daia's limits and the ordinary shares of both injured households continue unchanged.

Rusk may choose the ordinary preparation method, explain it to the willing kiln workers, and shape a modest set of matching small storage forms. He may not choose the immediate fire tender or overrule that tender. Miri records the clay preparation, any added material, drying time, weather, site, and fuel. A tender selected from the willing kiln workers controls the open vent; Daia's safety witness may stop the work; Hobb may stop it for ground, runoff, smoke, or weather danger. The fire receives one counted fuel allowance and is not repeated to rescue a poor result.

After cooling, the group records every crack, warp, and seepage result. Sound pieces may be filled and observed for several days, but nobody calls them food-storage vessels or offers them to Ferryend. A successful trial means only that this clay and method can support a small, safely controlled batch. A failed trial means no extraction or kiln construction and a return to investigation. Either result is read publicly before the review decision.

Proportionate authority after the trial

If Rusk and the crew complete this second trial without a safety breach, his two-trial restriction ends. He resumes ordinary authority over preparation, teaching, and craft direction, subject to the standing compact: firm drained ground, an open vent under a named tender, and an unconditional worker right to stop unsafe work. He never again has sole authority over the immediate vent decision in a shared firing.

If he overrides a tender, conceals a fuel or vent irregularity, or pressures workers to continue, the restriction remains in force and shared fuel, labor, and sites are withheld from any firing he directs. Miri records the event; this is an accountable rule, not a private punishment. Rusk keeps his molds and household teaching in either case.

Select and prepare the future site

Before any foundation is dug, Hobb and Alin will walk the dry terrace with Miri. They will mark the firmest usable area, the safe approach for hand loads, a route for future fuel, and a drainage path that does not discharge toward the fields, homes, or the old quarter. Alin decides whether any access work conflicts with field tending; Hobb may stop ground work for slumping or runoff risk.

The closer drainage-risked site remains a recorded alternative, not a second project. We will compare both sites in the public account by four practical costs: stability, drainage, fuel and clay carrying distance, and loss of field labor or carts. If the dry terrace remains sound, a small hand crew may clear brush and stake the drainage line only. No kiln wall, foundation, or production pit is built this month, and the old quarter and clay path remain closed.

If the second firing is sound and the dry terrace's drainage route can be maintained, Rusk will draft a modest rebuild plan using only demonstrated clay performance and known local materials. The plan must name fuel needs, labor days, safe vent access, and who can stop work. It is a proposal for the next decision, not authorization to consume the reserve.

Ferryend and the lakeward route

Venn maintains the Ferryend route note and may make a single ordinary crossing only if Alin releases him and the river conditions are safe. He makes no new jar offer and promises no recurring service. Claybank does not send a lakeward party toward Merehaven this month: we have no current knowledge of its people or conditions, no surplus production to trade, and no urgent need that justifies spending a punt, food, and a skilled boat worker on an uncertain journey. Venn may ask Ferryend to retain any firsthand notice of changed river hazards, but no rumor is treated as a report.

My role and the public account

I will chair the site comparison and the post-trial review, while leaving craft, ground, and bodily safety decisions to Rusk, Hobb, and Daia within their stated boundaries. Miri will keep duplicate records: one for the kiln households and one for the public store account. At month's end, Claybank will know whether it has a second safe review firing, whether the dry terrace can be prepared without harming fields, and what a realistic rebuild would cost before I ask anyone to approve it.