There are things authority knows how to undo.
Seizures.
Permits.
Records.
And then there are things it does not.
Memory is one of them.
⸻
By midday, the Ministry realizes the problem is not the ledger.
It is the absence it left behind.
Jason stands at the gate watching people move with quiet purpose, copying names onto fresh paper, teaching children how to spell themselves, reciting dates like prayers.
“They’re not asking for it back,” he says softly.
Zane shakes his head.
“No,” he replies. “They already replaced it.”
Jason exhales, disbelief threading his voice.
“That fast.”
Zane looks down at the heir, who sits on a blanket nearby under watchful eyes, happily stacking smooth stones someone brought.
“People have been practicing this,” Zane says. “They just didn’t know it y
