Mira Threadwell's Arc

Chapter 5 of 13

The knock came a day too soon. Mira opened the workshop door to a tall woman in guild grey, leading a pale antlered beast on a silver lead. The animal's snowflake antlers caught the morning light and threw it across the floor. A badge of office, alive and breathing. The inspector did not greet her. She pointed at the bench. She set down a flat stone slab carved with red glowing marks. "Lay it out. Seam by seam. Before the trial, not during." Mira's stomach turned. She spread the cloak across the runes. Every stitch showed up dark against the glow. The inspector drew a small pick from a pouch shaped like a tiny stack of rainbow ice stones. She worked the tip under a bone toggle and lifted. A thread snapped. Then another. Mira watched her doubled shoulder come apart in slow, careful pulls. The reinforced seam she had built against the hammers lay open on the slab in pieces. "Garment class confirmed. No composite layering permitted past this point." The inspector rolled the loose patches into a bundle and pushed it back across the stone. "Reassemble single-ply by dawn or forfeit." She left with her beast. Mira stood over the gutted cloak. The trial was tomorrow, and her shield against the hammers was a pile of thread.