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“The Lowtown storekeeper under supervision from the Morwen’thir quartermaster.”
“The quartermaster will favor households that serve the keep.”
“He will follow the written allotments.”
“And if he refuses?”
“You may raise the matter with Lord Morwen’thir after the marriage.”
I search the contract for another condition. I find several, though none alter the promised shipment. Lowtown receives the supplies in exchange for my acceptance. Refusal leaves the current tithe, forest restrictions, and grain levies unchanged.
Nothing written threatens retaliation.
It does not need to.
The shelves behind me hold too little rirzed. Bran’s firewood will not last. The repaired pump may fail during the next freeze. Families are already burning furniture. Coughing has begun among two infants on the southern lane.
If I refuse, Lowtown continues toward a winter it cannot survive.
Sarveth waits while I calculate the value of my freedom against sacks of grain, wagonloads of tiphe, and medicine for people who will never know how the decision was made.
“Does Lord Morwen’thir believe this is consent?” I ask.
“He believes it is an agreement accepted with full knowledge of the alternatives.”
“That is a careful answer.”
“He is a careful lord.”
“I have no real alternative.”
“You have one. You dislike its cost.”
“My neighbors would pay that cost.”
“Yes.”
Sarveth’s honesty is crueler than a lie.
I read the supply provision again. Three months will not solve Lowtown’s poverty. It will carry children through the cold. It will give Bran enough fuel to warm his family. It will fill my shelves so whoever tends the clinic after me can treat fever rather than decide who receives the final dose.
My life should not be a commodity weighed against their survival.
Dark elf law has already placed it on the scale.
“I accept,” I say.
Sarveth rolls the contract. “You will sign inside the stronghold after the formal reading.”
“So my spoken answer binds me, but the document waits until I stand inside his walls.”
“Your spoken answer permits preparations to begin.”
“Convenient.”
“Pack what you require. We leave within two hours.”
“Today?”
