The Palace Archives

Five years of trade-ledgers, one renounced route at a time, and a friend risking his post to open the door.

Halim takes me down into the palace archives himself, because the door does not open for outsiders and he has decided to open it anyway. The vault is cool and dim, the Council–Aurelae trade-ledgers shelved by year, and the risk to him is real — this access could cost him his post…