Page 99 of Pocket Wife

I step forward. “It is not abandoned.”

Sen answers before Salo can. “The claimant’s attachment to an object does not determine legal classification.”

“It is not an object.”

“It is a sealed registry found under a historical water structure, bearing multi-species covenant marks and no modern Authority registration.”

I lift my chin. “It was found under the water reserve we used last winter.”

Sen’s expression does not change. “Usage of nearby infrastructure does not establish custody of the sealed item.”

Rethan’s voice comes low from beside me. “That is their argument. Separate the registry from the life around it.”

I understand.

Helix does not have to prove the valley dead all at once. It only has to cut history into pieces small enough to mislabel.

The cistern is infrastructure.

The registry is artifact.

The people are sentimental.

The law is elsewhere.

I turn from the screen and face the room.

“Who used first water this year?”

Hands rise.

Not many at first. People are tired, wary of making a wrong claim in front of lawyers. Then Nara lifts her hand. Samuel. A schoolteacher. Two irrigation workers. An old widower from the south fields. Jessa raises hers too.

I point at the board. “Jessa, new column.”

Jessa grabs chalk.

I speak clearly. “Current use.”

The words appear beneath Helix’s accusation.

Sen’s voice sharpens. “This proceeding is not a town inventory exercise.”

“No,” I say. “It is a custody review. You said the registry was abandoned. We are showing who still answers to the water it was sealed beneath.”

Salo leans forward. “Proceed, Miss Hartwell. Keep statements specific.”

I nod. “Nara.”

Nara steps into the center aisle, her son sleeping against her shoulder. Her voice shakes only once. “Clinic tank draw, cold season. Three times. My son’s fever treatment used water from the north reserve when the main pump froze.”

Jessa writes: clinic tank draw.

“Samuel.”

Samuel stands with one hand resting against the back of Eleanor’s chair. “Seed trays. Early planting. North reserve mixed into the first germination beds because the east channel silted over.”

Jessa writes: seed.