Crownless Tyrant Nov Chapter 86: What Spreads Without Asking

Chapter 86: What Spreads Without Asking

Three disputes arrived in the sa week.

Not all at once.

They ca on different mornings through different settlents, each one carried by a different runner.

The runners had not coordinated, since the settlents did not yet talk to each other the way they would in six months.

However, Due read each request as it arrived. He did not ntion the first one. He read it, wrote a short response, and sent the runner back with a scheduled ti.

Following that, the second ca two days later, and he did the sa. By the fifth day, the third arrived, and Alistair noticed the pattern.

"Three," said Due. "First is Stenfell. Grain distribution argunt between two families who share a granary. Second is Harrowbend, near Frunt’s western edge. Border dispute over a fence line moved last planting season. Third is Redrun, which is unexpected."

Silas looked up. "Redrun already has a precedent."

"Redrun has a precedent for water routing; however, this is different." Due adjusted his collar.

"A woman wants Sun Harvest to diate an inheritance disagreent between herself and her brother over their late father’s tools. She read the diation docunt from the water routing case, and based on that, she decided she wants the sa process applied to her tools."

Elara set her cup down. "She read the docunt?"

"She read the docunt." A pause. "Honestly, I did not think anyone outside of Beska was going to read it. Pleased, but surprised."

"The docunt is circulating."

"It is circulating, it is being read, and it is being used as a template by people who have never t us." Due looked at his hands. "That is either the best thing that has happened this month or the worst, and I have not decided which."

"Why might it be the worst?" asked Alistair.

"Because if it is being used as a template, the template needs to be good enough to survive being used by people who do not have my training. And I wrote the first draft in one afternoon while I was tired. Regardless, I need to revise it before it becos load-bearing."

Alistair shook his head slightly.

’He is going to rewrite the diation docunt tonight,’ he thought. ’He will do it without telling anyone he is doing it, and he will be mildly unhappy about it until he finishes, and then mildly pleased.’

Due was already pulling the docunt out of the stack on the table.

At that mont, before he could start revising, the door opened and a farr walked in.

He walked straight past the periter. Silas had not stopped him because the farr was unard, Elara had not stopped him because he was from the settlent closest to the base, and Due had not stopped him because Due was looking at the diation docunt and had not noticed the door.

Seeing this, the farr took off his hat and held it in both hands.

"I am sorry to co in without asking," he said. "I was walking past, and I saw the light, and I did not want to co back tomorrow."

Due looked up.

His face did not change.

Alistair could feel the obligation thread arriving in the room before Due could even react to it.

"What do you need?" asked Due.

"I want to na a crop after your faction. I need to know whether I am allowed."

The room was quiet for a mont.

"Na a crop," Due repeated.

"A new variety of barley. I crossed two strains in the spring, and it took until now to know whether the cross would hold. It did. Shorter grain head, higher yield in dry years." The farr looked at the floor. "I want to na it after Sun Harvest, because the first year I grew it was the year your faction ca to the Oasis of Grain. I want to rember that."

Alistair watched Due closely.

The obligation thread had arrived and resolved in the sa second, since Due had read the farr’s intent and understood that saying no would create a larger obligation than saying yes.

"We would not object," Due said carefully. "Honestly, we would be honored. I would like to know the na you choose when you have chosen it, so Sun Harvest can note it in its own records."

"You are going to keep records about a barley variety?"

"I am going to keep records about everything anyone in the Oasis of Grain decides to na after us. It will matter later, and I want the records when later arrives."

The farr nodded, put his hat back on, and walked out. The whole exchange had taken less than two minutes.

Silas, who had watched the entire thing from his usual corner, finally spoke.

"How often does that happen?"

"Daily," replied Due.

"Every day?"

"Sotis twice." Due adjusted his collar. "It used to bother . Now it’s just – weather."

Alistair almost laughed, and he did not, but it was close.

Following that, Due set the diation docunt aside and pulled a fresh sheet of paper toward himself.

"I am writing the barley down first," he said. "And the principle that I will need a separate record for things people na after us, since I suspect this will keep happening."

He looked across the table at Elara.

"How many settlents have asked about the diation docunt this week?"

Elara thought about it. "Three that I know of. One through Stenfell, two through the runners passing through Frunt’s western edge."

"Three in a week. Six in two weeks. Twelve in a month." Due’s eyes narrowed slightly. "By the ritual, we will have a template being used in half the settlents in the Oasis of Grain. However, that is faster than I planned, and I need to revise it this week, not next month."

"Do it," said Alistair simply.

"I am going to."

At that mont, Elara stood up and walked to the cabinet against the wall. She pulled out a notebook Alistair had not seen before. She set it down in front of Due without ceremony.

"You should read this before you revise."

Due looked at the notebook, then at her.

"What is it?"

"Notes from the settlents. Civic gaps. Recurring questions. Disputes that have gone unresolved long enough to beco structural."

Due opened it slowly.

He read the first page, then the next. His hands went still the sa way they had gone still when he read Glory’s na in the Record.

He moved through six pages without speaking before finally closing it.

He looked up at Elara.

"You have been doing this systematically."

"I noticed things repeating."

"This is better than what I would have asked you to build." A pause. "I was not going to ask."

"I know."

Hearing this, Alistair watched Due’s shoulders shift in the specific way they shifted when Due realized he was no longer the only one running the docuntation.

It was a small thing. Regardless, it sat heavily in the room.

Outside, the wind picked up against the wooden walls, and birds returned from the east toward their roosts before nightfall.

Alistair was honestly at peace for a mont.

Eventually, sowhere in Tavin’s distant tower, the bird carrying Frunt’s morning dispatch was already being prepared, and whatever Sera had written underneath it, Alistair did not yet know.