Aldric Thornwhisker's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Aldric Thornwhisker set down his quill when the merchant spoke the words. Riverton. Council hall. Already breaking ground. The same guild masters he'd been courting for months were accepting invitations from a town that hadn't existed on any map two seasons ago. He walked to the granary window and looked across his two roads. The merchant had seen the hall himself — three stories, carved stone, glowing symbols set into the doorframe. They'd even mounted a ceremonial blade above the entrance, something old and starlit that caught the eye from the bridge. Riverton wasn't selling the promise of trade. They were already performing it. Aldric returned to his desk and opened the center drawer. Inside lay a star-shaped ornament, silver and precise, that he'd commissioned last spring for the town hall dedication ceremony he'd been planning for two years. He turned it over in his paws. The metal was cold. The engraving still sharp. He'd paid for it the same week he sold his house. He set the star down beside his ledger and flipped to the third contingency budget. The numbers were already tight. Now they had to move faster. He pulled a blank sheet toward him and began writing a list: the river trader's name at the top, the surveyor's kit below it, and beneath that, a single line — one verified shipment, six weeks. Riverton had a hall. He still had a trader who knew the river and a favor he'd been saving for exactly this moment. The math had changed, but it still worked.