The Ironbeard archive had been sitting in Sakh'arran's office for eleven days when he finally opened the second chest. The first chest had contained the commercial records: trade route surveys, ore deposit assessments, geological notes from the Ironbeard mapping expeditions that had covered the southern territories three centuries ago. He had reviewed those for trade relevance and set them aside.
The second chest contained the settlement documentation.
Sakh'arran was alone in his office. Khao'khen was at the Arch. The city's administrative day was underway outside his window. He could hear the market district from two buildings away: the specific quality of noise that a functional market made, the combination of transaction and argument and the particular human sound of people who needed things finding people who had things.
He opened the second chest.
