They arrived an hour after sunrise in a formal party of eight: the senior steward from the previous visit, three additional stewards in Archive gray, and four silent aides who carried no visible weapons yet stood with the balance of people trained to use them. The street outside had already begun to fill with the same mixed crowd as the day before. Sera opened the door and let the stewards enter while the workshop hands kept the petitioners at a measured distance.
The senior steward placed a sealed document on Lira’s workbench beside the lens. “The arrangement stands. You and the living glass will transfer to the highest intact spire by midday. Petitioners will be processed under Archive schedule. Independent releases will cease. In return the hardliner faction will be outlawed, your pers
