Mira Threadwell's Arc

Chapter 2 of 13

Mira reached the registry hall an hour before noon. The line stretched out the door. She wore the cloak over her shoulders, bone toggles fastened tight. The weight felt right. Fighters stood ahead of her in polished armor and matched sets. Their gear gleamed under the morning light. Hers looked like it had been pulled from three different scrap heaps. The Fighter's Lodge sat at the top of a wide staircase, its double doors propped open. Mira climbed the stone steps and followed the line inside. A table ran along the far wall with clerks checking names and inspecting equipment. To the right stood a tall pillar carved with text — rules, restrictions, formal language that went back generations. She glanced at it as she moved forward, then stopped. New text had been carved near the bottom, the stone still pale where the chisel had cut. She stepped closer and read it twice. Patchwork construction prohibited. Composite armor must meet guild certification standards. She stayed in line. When she reached the table, the clerk looked up from his ledger and his eyes went straight to the cloak. He didn't ask her name. He pulled out a visitor pass, wrote something across the top, and stamped it in red ink before sliding it back toward her. The word REJECTED sat diagonal across her face in the photo box. He pointed at the pillar. She didn't argue. She picked up the pass, folded it once, and set it back down on the table. Outside, the air felt colder than it had that morning. Mira walked down the steps and stopped at the bottom. The trial was meant to prove her work under real conditions. Now the conditions themselves had been rewritten to keep her out. She could appeal to the guild, but they were the ones who'd written the restriction. She could make her case in writing, but they'd already seen her stitching and called it unreliable. The path she'd planned was gone. She turned and looked back at the lodge, then down at the cloak. If they wouldn't let her in the front door, she'd need to find another way to put her work in the fight.