# Book 2 Timeline — The Drenwick Drainings

**Purpose:** Track elapsed time between chapters to prevent continuity errors. Update this file whenever a chapter is drafted or revised.

**Season:** Late winter. ~3 months after Book 1 epilogue (early winter).

**Bell System:** Bells count 1–12. Bell number ≈ hour of day. Context (morning/afternoon/evening) determines AM/PM equivalent.

---

## Timeline Summary

| Day | Chapter | Day of Week | Key Events |
|-----|---------|-------------|------------|
| 1 | Ch01 | **Godsday** | Budget scene (morning). Training with Leon (fourth bell, ~4 PM). Devod visits (~6:15 PM). Guild runner delivers Ledger's note (just past eighth bell, ~8 PM). |
| 2 | Ch02 | **Day 2** (Monday equiv.) | Training with Leon at sixth bell (ring accuracy, not sparring). Ledger briefing at eighth bell — draining case assigned. Carter's shop after — supply chain problem, gear comment. |
| 3 | Ch03 | **Day 3** (Tuesday equiv.) | No training (case priority — first skip since training started). Mere's folder analysis (cognitive-first sequence). Three victim site visits: arcane district (student Vellen Thrace), warrens (dockworker Ren Dorren), residue-only site (cobbler near canal). Maren's brokerage visit (stonewalled). Canal district inquiries. Pattern crystallisation: one source, one instrument, escalating, pre-Compact. Decision: needs Leon for pre-Compact identification. |
| 4 | Ch04 | **Day 4** (Wednesday equiv.) | Leon identifies crystal as Mallory (his Vethani recovery). Reveals father's injury drove cheap sale. Visit Harren's Collected Antiquities — crystal buyer traced to intermediary via broker Galden. Leon buys Telessi sleeve (40 silvers). Ledger brings "Kae" name + dead woman intel (worn folder, personal investment). Two new victim reports (one critical). Leon tasked with Galden (2-day timeline) + Carter alternative suppliers. Phelan misreads Mere's advice at home. |
| 5 | Ch05-06 | **Day 5** (Thursday equiv.) | Morning: Misread recalibration. Mid-morning: Ledger debrief + Kae territory map. Afternoon: warrens investigation (three contacts) → Carson encounter (chapel-workshop, Kae intel, Supplier 2 resolution). Late afternoon: Devod visit (apples, "protective non-investigation" insight). Evening: case processing, street king reflection. |
| 6 | Ch07 (Sc 1-2) | **Day 6** (Friday equiv.) | Training with Leon (sixth bell). Leon reports Galden financial trail + delivers Carter's suppliers. Carter visit. Ledger debrief: victim death (murder), engineering analysis, CH8 bridge seed #1 (financial thread). |
| 7 | Ch07 (Sc 3) | **Day 7** (Saturday equiv.) | Evening: Phelan tells Mere full picture. Dependency cycle insight. |
| 8 | Ch07 (Sc 4) | **Day 8** (Godsday) | Fish fry at Carson's (fourth-fifth bell). Carson's puzzle piece (Kae's hypothetical dilemmas). Permission insight. CH8 bridge seed #2 (Compact agents tightening). |
| 9 | Ch08-09 | **Day 9** (Monday equiv.) | Training with Leon (sixth bell) — 14 seconds. Soundstone introduced. Ledger's financial thread confirms Cass (Thorngate fund). Elara revealed as guild informant. Afternoon: tail Compact operatives (Phelan + Leon via soundstones). Operatives converge on storage facility. Overheard reporting to Cass via soundstone. Cass confirmed. Evening: Phelan tells Carter it's Cass. Leon stays in field tracking operatives. **Night (~10th bell):** Leon calls via soundstone — found Kae at washing woman's tenement. Break-in, fight (five phases), crystal drain (3-4 seconds), Leon's rescue. Kae flees into warrens with crystal. Phelan returns to Chandler's Row — bracelet at half power. **Offpage (Day 9):** Calla Floundry drained at canal market (morning). Ned Floundry drained at home (~second bell afternoon). Cass's redirection of Kae already active. |
| 10 | Ch10 | **Day 10** (Tuesday equiv.) | Morning: Phelan discovers bracelet auto-recharge broken. Mere's dual analysis (Kae profile + bracelet/crystal compatibility). Late morning: Ledger arrives at Chandler's Row — Tier Two promotion (22 silvers, Archive access, alias formalised) + Floundry victim intel (Calla survived, Ned touch-and-go). Afternoon: Phelan + Leon debate defence vs. pursuit (no resolution). Leon's Stay or Bolt — stays. Evening: Devod arrives with apples and ideas. Wagon idea seeds manual bracelet recharge (untested). |
| 10 (evening) | Ch11 | **Day 10** (Tuesday equiv.) | ~Tenth bell: Leon departs. Devod stays. Reveals Thresholds business records (deed, partnership documents, financial records). Mere discovers: Devod never signed away his share (Charlette lied), payment records show 3 silvers/month extortion for four years (age 12-16). Devod reveals ultimatum truth (gloves incident, threatened disappearance). Mere reclassifies both parents — Charlette as "closed account," Devod's model inverted. Shelves Thresholds fight for the case. Calls Devod "Dad" for first time in twelve years. ~Eleventh bell: chapter ends on changed quiet. |
| 11 | Ch12 | **Day 11** (Wednesday equiv.) | **Offpage overnight:** Kae drains Devod at Millford Street. Sixth bell: training (15 seconds fire). Bracelet manual charge discovered (~50%→~70%). Mid-morning: Carter delivers studded jacket (ore studs + impact-response leather). Afternoon: Devod expected, doesn't show. ~3:15 PM: tanner brings news. Rush to Millford Street. Devod drained, life-threatening. Mere stabilizes (40 min). Ledger arrives — guild safe house, medical contacts. Chapter ends heavy: "a debt to collect." |
| 11 (evening) | Ch13 | **Day 11** (Wednesday equiv.) | Continues from Ch12. ~Fifth bell: Phelan 2-3 hours at bedside. Leon arrives (Ledger sent word). Drain echo discovered — residual channel still pulling. Mere neutralizes with concentrated binding salts. Corridor debate: Phelan's hunt instinct vs. strategic patience. Leon commits. Ledger provides safe house/medical resources. Chapter ends: Phelan sits with Devod. |
| 12 | Ch14 | **Day 12** (Thursday equiv.) | Morning: Carson's workshop — Devod draining news, Brida Voss named, street contact named. Leon dispatched via soundstone. Midday: Brida's tenement — Kae's full backstory (congenital pain, Elara, pendant, crystal). Afternoon: Compact annex with Ledger — paper trail, double reveal (Cass ordered Elara killed + Elara was Ledger's informant). Evening: Leon confirms street witness. Mission shifts to save Kae. Mere pivots to herbal pain management. |
| 13 | Ch15 | **Day 13** (Friday equiv.) | Pre-dawn: Phelan wakes at Millford Street. Devod first real consciousness (~2 words). Mid-morning: Brennan Toor arrives via The Cairns network. Vethek Pass story — Devod's Pathfinder past revealed. Aldric Vane contact offered. Afternoon: Phelan begins active bracelet charging (70% → 80% by evening, 90% by morning target). |
| 14 | Ch16 | **Day 14** (Saturday equiv.) | ~Seventh bell: Phelan wakes, bracelet at 90%. Mere working, Devod sleeping. Noise replays Ch9 Flaw Sight fragments — bracelet/crystal handshake discovered (same makers, authentication exchanged). Phelan enters hyperfocus (non-functional). Mere misreads stillness. Half past eighth bell: Ledger arrives — safehouse location (south docks) + Brida Voss is Kae's next target. Devod contributes genius idea (use Kae's existing mission as the trigger — two simultaneous operations). Mere reports herbal treatment ready (~80% pain reduction). Three-part plan: Leon at Brida's to intercept Kae, Phelan + Ledger infiltrate safehouse, Mere bridges treatment. All three sleep — earned rest after days of running. |
| 15 | Ch17 | **Day 15** (Godsday) | Morning: Phelan wakes at Millford Street, bracelet at ~90%. Devod Day 4 (lucid, sitting up). Mere's herbal compounds ready. Phelan departs to brief team. Leon at courtyard — fire drills alone, anger in the fire. Save-not-kill plan explained; Leon angry but accepts intercept role. Carson already at Brida's — warned her, brought jacket. Brida: Kae stopped visiting 4 days ago (Day 11 = Devod draining), casing building instead. Ledger's intel: tonight is the hit. Ledger walks Phelan through safehouse wards (outer detection ring, inner asset-protection, warded chit system). Afternoon: soundstone confirmations. Leon arrives at Brida's (Carson introduces). Phelan + Ledger position south of dock road. Ninth bell target — two hours away. |
| 15 (night) | Ch18 | **Day 15** (Godsday night) | ~Ninth bell: Both operations execute simultaneously. Phelan + Ledger infiltrate safehouse (Ledger bypasses ward, Phelan rewrites crystal in ~3 minutes). Leon intercepts Kae at Brida's (containment fire, Kae fights on fumes, crystal high fades). Kae surrenders when Leon names Elara and promises Mere's treatment. Crystal left in place as trap + evidence. Phelan and Ledger walk south docks toward Millford Street. |
| 15 (night, cont.) | Ch19 | **Day 15** (Godsday night) | Leon calls via soundstone — Kae needs Mere. Phelan/Ledger split: Phelan to Millford for Mere, Ledger to guild hall. Mere treats Kae at Brida's (80% pain relief). Escort to 14 Greystone Lane. Brief debrief (Ledger's Book 3 seed). The deal: Kae's testimony for treatment/safe house/custody. Elara murder revealed. Deal signed. |
| 16 | — | **Day 16** (Monday equiv.) | Recovery day. Off-screen. Everyone rests. Mere continues Kae's herbal treatment at guild safehouse. Kae's custody transition underway. |
| 17 | Ch20 | **Day 17** (Twosday) | Morning: Ledger's runner delivers note at Chandler's Row — third bell, Greystone Lane, *private* debrief room. Afternoon third bell: Phelan arrives via long route through merchants' quarter. Three-phase meeting, single continuous scene. **Phase 1:** Case closure — connection log filed, Kae's testimony (two nights back) recorded, Cass indicted on paper (Regulated Artifact statute, institutional prosecution path). Vellen Thrace deferred with *"one I want to come back to."* Kae: safehouse, 80% herbal relief, Ledger operational custody. Leon's containment "clean, not tactical." Carson's network formally recognised. **Case fee delivered:** 150 silvers gross / 120 net in a guild-sealed coin pouch. **Phase 2:** Ledger pivots — *"I was there, Locksmith. That wasn't curse-breaking."* Phelan's curated three-layer answer (bracelet / rare pathway sight / "I just think differently"), word *flaw* withheld. Ledger: *"That's not exactly what I saw, but close enough for the paperwork."* Private file established off-record. **Phase 3:** Second pause. Thinner off-book folder. Tier Two structural disclosure — Vellen was illegitimate son of Duchess Isolde Merrenwood of Wenlow. Housekeeping + leverage-banking motive spelled out. Standing rule: *"The guild stays out of noble politics unless called on. Duchess Merrenwood has not called on us. And yet."* Ledger defers decision. Meeting ends. **Evening:** Phelan walks home via merchants' quarter to Chandler's Row. Chapter closes on unresolved kid parentheticals. |
| 18 | Ch21 | **Day 18** (Freyasday) | **Sixth bell — training** at chandler's courtyard. Fire integration plateau at 15s acknowledged as plateau (no forced breakthrough). Leon asks Phelan to vet Arren Yule — private collector, 2,400-silver offer for the Harrow Vale threshold seal (pre-Compact, three years back, no offensive load). Buyer-vetting beat externalises Leon's philosophy shift. Carson already cleared the name. **Mid-late morning — Thresholds confrontation** at Hallow and Third. Devod walked from Millford Street before sixth bell, sleeves past elbows, posture changed. Mere leads; options laid out; Devod to the deed: *"Option one."* Charlette: *"Fine."* Notarial stamp, countersigns, witnesses. Thresholds partnership reverted — joint ownership restored, Charlette without signing authority on Mere's accounts. Out in the Hallow Street sun: *"That's done."* Devod peels off at the canal turn. **Late morning — Carter's shop** (Mere present). Carter welcomes Mere. Orders running Tier Two referrals from Ledger. Jacket update (accurate: stealth op, did not absorb anything). Tomael arc closed in subtext — Carter cutting leather for a woman in Greymarch Barrows who "should have had one a long time ago." Phelan pays for the last collar-stud adjustment. *"Come by again before winter. Both of you."* Mere: *"We will."* **Afternoon — unscheduled hour.** Phelan walks the long way home through the merchants' quarter. Stops at the old bridge. Bracelet cool. The first unscheduled walk since ~a month before Ledger's first knock. **Dusk — Chandler's Row kitchen scene.** Ledger's runner delivered the 12 silvers/month ghostveil standing order that morning — Mere's first income line in her own name. Case fee from Ch20 counted: 438 silvers saved, 1,300 house target, ~1/3 there, 46/month recurring, ~8 months to half. Rev 11 filed (east-facing kitchen + Devod drainage kernel, sloped hilltop lot). Dinner. Single Kae-status beat (80% holding, moss sustainable). **Evening into night — the marriage/children conversation.** Mere proposes. Phelan deflects to priest (Mere laughs). Mere surfaces children as the real question. Phelan deflects to logistics. Mere: *"Do you want them?"* Phelan: *"I don't know how."* Mere: *"Neither do I. Our genetics are favorable."* Court house research — Mere had it filed last month, before the case. Drenwick Court House civil registry, second floor, counter two, 6 silvers, 10-day waiting period, open 2nd afternoon bell to 7th except Godsday. Phelan: *"Okay. We'll go this week."* **Night — bed, dark.** *(a kid.)* The noise lets it sit. Phelan sleeps. Decision private to Phelan and Mere per Book 2 lock. |
| 28 | Epilogue | **Day 28** (ten days after Ch21) | **Late winter — edge of the first thaw.** **Morning at Chandler's Row.** Phelan down before Mere wakes. Bracelet cool on the nightstand — twelve days since it had last asked for anything. **Rev 12 of the house plans** drafted privately by Phelan nine mornings in a row — adds an extra room upstairs over the drainage pilings. Not yet shown to Mere. Running tally unchanged at **438 silvers** — retainer, ore, and moss all on later cycles, nothing had ticked in the ten-day window. Mere comes down, shared cup, shared silence. *"Second afternoon bell." / "I know."* **Fifteen past second afternoon bell — Drenwick Court House civil registry, second floor, counter two.** Six silvers on the counter. *"Name." / "Phelan Varrant." / "Name." / "Mere Fields." / "Papers."* Crown papers laid down beside the silvers, royal seals verified against a reference plate under the counter lip. Clerk reads the clause, asks about existing joint contracts with crown or any of the six duchies, both say *no*, stamp lands. **Contract in effect.** The clerk tells them the contract was now in effect, hands Mere a copy of the filing, gives them the afternoon back. Walk out into winter light, Mere's hand in Phelan's elbow all the way to Chandler's Row. **Evening — wedding party at Chandler's Row.** Carter and Jenet arrive first (baked tin + wooden box, Tomael letter confirmation in subtext). Carson second (Church of the Ahole catering — stew — "Ahole provides. Terms and conditions apply"). Leon third (six silvers ask-around fee matching the filing fee "for the symmetry," next piece next week). Devod fourth (on-page hug with Mere in the middle of the room, folded address slip in an unknown hand — "For when you're ready"). Mere's private beat at the back counter with Phelan. Charlette absent (Mere did not offer, Charlette did not send word). **Ledger last.** Hands Phelan a pre-Compact thaumometer + 22 silvers in a pouch. *"From the guild. And from me, because the distinction matters tonight."* Uses codename *Locksmith*: *"Take three or four days for yourself. Then come see me. I have something that needs the kind of mind you have."* At the door on his way out: *"He knows about the crystal. He doesn't know how. He's not going to stop wondering."* Ledger leaves, party resumes at a volume a quarter-step lower, Phelan files the thaumometer. Cast filters out. Mere pulls the door closed. |
| 29 | Epilogue | **Day 29** (dawn — closing beat) | **Morning at Chandler's Row.** Thaumometer, 22-silver pouch, Devod's folded address, Leon's cloth twist, Carter's unopened box all still on the table. Mere asleep upstairs. Phelan makes the kettle quietly. **Ledger's three days started today. Phelan refuses the grace window** — *"I was not going to take them. Mere was not going to ask me to... today was today the way all days were today... Just another one."* Noise parenthetical builds a preliminary case folder: not a curse, not a ward, something that needed "the kind of mind you have" — narrowed to "one column that started with an unlocked door and ended somewhere I had not yet been." Kettle whistles. Tea by the window. Mere shifts in her sleep upstairs. **Closing line:** *"I put it in my coat pocket and went to find Ledger."* Book 2 ends with Phelan walking into Book 3. |

---

## Ch01: The Quiet — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Morning | — | Mere presents budget. Phelan redoes it (two hours). Same number. |
| ~4:00 PM | Fourth bell | Training begins. Courtyard behind chandler's shop. Leon arrives slightly late. |
| ~5:00 PM | Fifth bell | Light fading. Training ends. "Already dark by fifth bell" (winter). Leon departs. |
| ~5:15 PM | — | Phelan arrives home. |
| ~6:15 PM | Sixth bell | Devod arrives ("roughly an hour after I got back"). Pilings discussion, apples. |
| ~6:45 PM | — | Devod departs (stayed ~20 minutes after initial discussion). |
| ~7:00–8:00 PM | Seventh–eighth bell | Evening quiet. House plans, budget review, Mere reading. |
| ~8:00 PM | Just past eighth bell | Guild knock. Runner delivers Ledger's sealed note. |

**Tomorrow (Day 2):**
- Sixth bell: Training with Leon (regular weekday time)
- Eighth bell: Meeting with Ledger at the guild hall

---

## Ch02: The First Victim — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| ~6:00 AM | Sixth bell | Training with Leon. Ring accuracy work (not sparring — Phelan doesn't want to get dirty before guild meeting). Thirteen seconds achieved (ugly but held, 2/4 attempts). Leon's collar/leash joke about the guild. ~1 hour session. |
| ~7:00 AM | Seventh bell | Training ends. Leon departs. Phelan cleans up, heads to guild hall. |
| ~8:00 AM | Eighth bell | Ledger briefing at guild hall. Third door on the right (deeper into building than previous debriefs). Case assignment: draining pattern — 7 confirmed victims, 12 investigation sites, escalating frequency. Pre-Compact arcane signature. Compact aware and not acting. Guild-priority, guild-funded. Phelan assigned specifically (arcane analysis + Leon's pre-Compact knowledge). |
| ~9:00+ AM | After briefing | Carter's shop (Carterson's Supplies). Shelves noticeably thin — focusing crystals, inscription minerals, refined reagents all low. Carter explains: 3 suppliers went quiet over 6 weeks, coordinated, specific to him. Already investigated for weeks. "This is your kind of problem." Carter comments on Phelan's lack of protective gear (wool coat for fire combat training = professional negligence). Sees Barrows neck scar, reveals brother Tomael's death at the third door. First on-page disclosure. Phelan buys 2 vials ward-resistance compound + containment sleeve. |
| Late morning | — | Phelan walks home. Noise processing both problems (draining case + Carter's supply chain). Plans to read folder tonight, start victim sites tomorrow. |

**Tomorrow (Day 3):**
- Begin victim site investigations

---

## Ch03: Scene of the Crime — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Pre-dawn | Before sixth bell | Phelan at kitchen table with case folder, notes from overnight reading. Mapped all 12 sites. Third cup of coffee. |
| ~6:00 AM | Sixth bell | Mere enters with her copy of the folder. Cognitive-first sequence observation. Phelan skips training — first time since daily sessions started. Heads to arcane district. |
| Mid-morning | ~Seventh bell | Arcane district site visit. Student boarding house (Vellen Thrace, third-year inscription apprentice). Landlord lets him in. Flaw Sight engagement: pre-Compact signature, unfamiliar architecture, extraction pathway pointing northeast. ~20 minutes on site. |
| Late morning | ~Ninth–tenth bell | Warrens site visit. Brewer's Alley, dockworker Ren Dorren's home. Wife (Mrs. Dorren), son Tam (~3-4 years old). Same signature, heavier traces — escalation confirmed. Ren aged from 31 to looking 50. |
| Early afternoon | — | East road: Maren's mineral brokerage. Maren Harwick stonewalls — "I can't help you." Institutional pressure, not criminal fear. Canal district inquiries — ambient rumours of coordinated supply adjustments. |
| Mid-afternoon | — | Third site — residue-only, cobbler's workshop near canal district boundary. Faint, incomplete signature — attempted draining at edge of range, or residue drift. Pattern crystallisation: one source, one tool, escalating. |
| Late afternoon | — | Walk home. Decision: needs Leon for pre-Compact identification. Tomorrow. |

**Tomorrow (Day 4):**
- Leon conversation about pre-Compact signatures (not training — the case conversation)

---

## Ch04: The Crystal Trail — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Morning | — | Phelan meets Leon at courtyard behind chandler's shop. No training — case conversation. Describes pre-Compact signatures. Leon identifies Mallory focusing crystal. Reveals his Vethani crystal is the one. Father's injury revealed. Operational pivot — plan to visit Harren. |
| Mid-morning | — | Harren's Collected Antiquities, east side of arcane district. Leon browses fire augmentation tools (Telessi projection sleeve). Phelan asks about crystal sale. Harren resists, Leon applies pressure. Harren reveals: sold to intermediary via broker Galden. Intermediary described (forgettable, practitioner's questions). Provenance inquiries noted. Galden named (canal district, Warehouse Row). Leon buys Telessi sleeve (40 silvers). |
| Late morning / early afternoon | — | Phelan and Leon part at edge of arcane district. Leon heads to canal district (Galden + Carter supplier contacts). Phelan heads to guild hall. |
| Afternoon | — | Ledger's office. New red pins on map (northeast). Worn folder — "Kae" name, dead woman intel. Phelan cold-reads personal investment. Victim escalation: two new reports, one critical (woman in merchants' quarter). Ledger: "Find Kae." |
| Late afternoon | — | Walk home. Noise-leash used. |
| Evening | — | Chandler's Row. Phelan tells Mere about crystal unprompted (new behavior). Mere's tactical advice about Leon. The Misread — Phelan hears criticism that isn't there, adjusts behavior. |

**Tomorrow (Day 5):**
- Leon pursuing Galden (Day 1 of 2-day timeline)
- Phelan: street investigation toward Kae — two vectors converging (Ledger's intel + arcane trail)

---

## Ch05: The Street King — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Morning | — | Chandler's Row. Mere confronts Phelan about behavioral shift from Ch04. The Misread recalibration — Phelan admits he heard criticism that wasn't there. Mere's structural fix: "When it happens, ask." Bracelet warm amber. Sniff emerges from under table. |
| Mid-morning | — | Guild hall. Receptionist nods Phelan through (past the filter). Ledger's office — debriefs three-site analysis. Methodology questions (how, not what). Provides Kae territory map (SW warrens, Brewer's Alley to old tannery district). Dead woman confirmed in Compact-adjacent work. Ledger directs: focus on Kae, he keeps pulling the dead woman thread. |
| Afternoon | — | Warrens investigation. Enters from canal side. Three street contacts: (1) nut seller — protective lie, door closed, buys nuts (3 coppers). (2) Washing woman — protective lie + southwest eye-flick + "Are you a healer?" (3) Drannick (pipe smoker) — confirms chronic pain, names Elara, describes dependency oscillation, reveals two Compact men asked same morning, refers Phelan to Carson ("the Reverend," Greywell Lane, three streets southwest). |

*Ch05 continues into Ch06 — same day.*

---

## Ch06: The Right Reverend Carson — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Afternoon (cont.) | — | Phelan follows Greywell Lane to Carson's chapel-workshop. Notes Kae territory / Carter supplier territory overlap. Carson encounter: Kae intel (chronic pain, Elara, deterioration, overdue 10-14 days). Carson recognises Hendrick Voss as the supplier under fabricated-rumour pressure — volunteers to counter through network credibility (2-3 weeks). Apprentice delivers "So said the Right Reverend Carson!" catchphrase. |
| Late afternoon | — | Phelan returns to guild quarter. Noise processes Compact dual-inquiry (institutional suppression vs. field-level investigation — possibly different departments). Pulls the leash. |
| Late afternoon | — | Devod arrives from canal direction with apples (Henwick's orchard, Thursday route). Case ideas: (1) proximity-based draining — rejected (contact-based, Leon confirmed). (2) **"Protective non-investigation"** — the useful idea. Phelan stops walking. Compact isn't protecting Kae, they're protecting someone connected to Kae. Noise links to Cass/Thorngate. |
| Late afternoon | — | Devod stays ~20 minutes at Chandler's Row. Warehouse contract, timber yard, two more terrible case ideas. Mere stops bristling — asks practical question about apples. Devod notices. Departs with characteristic too-many-words exit. |
| Evening | — | Kitchen table. Case map spread with Ledger's zone map and day's notes. Full Kae picture assembled: not a predator, a wreck. Two-vector confirmation (Ledger's intel + street investigation). Compact dual-inquiry processed. Victim escalation noted. "The street king ruled nothing." Bracelet amber. Mere reading, Sniff at her feet. |

**Tomorrow (Day 6):**
- Leon's second day on Galden + Carter supplier contacts
- Phelan: deeper Kae investigation (Ch07)

---

## Ch07: The Man Behind the Monster -- Detailed Timeline

**Spans Days 6-8 (Friday equiv. through Godsday).**

| Time | Bell | Day | Event |
|------|------|-----|-------|
| ~6:00 AM | Sixth bell | Day 6 (Fri) | Training with Leon. Courtyard. Thirteen seconds held (ugly but stable). Leon using Telessi sleeve. Leon reports: Galden financial trail (institutional money, Compact-level disbursement channels). Leon delivers Carter's alternative supplier list (three contacts, paper with names/addresses/terms). Phelan tells Leon about Carson. Leon briefs on Church of the Ahole (already knew it). "Hell, I might join." |
| After training | -- | Day 6 (Fri) | Phelan and Leon visit Carter's shop together. Deliver: Leon's suppliers ready to test + Carson's rumour campaign 2-3 weeks. Carter plans small test orders. Mentions non-standard materials project (seeds studded jacket). |
| Mid-morning | -- | Day 6 (Fri) | Leon and Phelan part at guild quarter edge. Leon to canal district (buyer, second-era inscription tools). Phelan to guild hall. |
| Mid-morning | -- | Day 6 (Fri) | Ledger's office. Victim death: merchants' quarter woman didn't survive (healer reported that morning). Case now murder. Phelan updates: Compact operatives, Kae's state, dependency reason (chronic pain, Elara's partial relief, crystal's complete relief). Ledger confirms Elara was a healer (worn folder opened). Engineering analysis built together: Elara's removal was pre-meditated. Ledger's financial thread: institutional money, expects confirmation end of week. Ledger probes about recruiting Leon -- shut down. "This is a murder case now." |
| Evening | -- | Day 7 (Sat) | Chandler's Row. Phelan tells Mere the full picture. Victim death weight present. Mere analyses Church of the Ahole logically. KEY INSIGHT: dependency cycle -- crystal's complete relief after partial then nothing makes withdrawal exponentially worse. "You can't just stop him." Domestic quiet, murder weight. |
| ~5:00 PM | Fifth bell | Day 8 (Godsday) | Phelan arrives at Carson's fish fry (started fourth bell, one bell late). ~20 people, food, beer, wine, community. Eats, observes for 20 minutes. |
| After meal | -- | Day 8 (Godsday) | Finds Carson. Kae update: Carson saw him two days ago (Day 6), workshop not fish fry, looking worse, eyes wrong, hands shaking. PUZZLE PIECE: Kae's hypothetical dilemmas revealed. Carson's "do what's best for you" advice. REALIZATION: Kae sought permission, not acting without conscience. |
| After meal | -- | Day 8 (Godsday) | Compact operatives: returned two days ago (Day 6), more pointed questions (location tracking). Time pressure mounting. |
| Evening | -- | Day 8 (Godsday) | Walk home from fish fry. Noise processing permission insight. Leash used. Bracelet amber at Chandler's Row. Sniff unimpressed. |

**Next (Day 9+):**
- Ledger's financial thread expected to produce results (end of week)
- Ch08: The Compact Connection -- trail from Kae leads to Cass

---

## Ch08: The Tail — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| ~6:00 AM | Sixth bell | Training with Leon. Courtyard. Fourteen seconds held (ugly, unstable past twelve, targeting drift only in last half-second). Leon gives Phelan a paired soundstone (loaner from cave-diving kit). Plans afternoon tail of Compact operatives — one each, soundstones for coordination. |
| After training | -- | Ledger's office. Financial analysis confirmed: Compact disbursement channels, Thorngate discretionary fund. "It's Cass." Worn folder opened — new section. Elara revealed as guild informant feeding intel on Cass from Thorngate. "She went dark." Ledger acknowledges holding back more ("Yes"). Phelan files it. Ledger warns about soundstone frequency overlap risk. |
| Afternoon | -- | The tail. Southern warrens. Phelan follows watch-checker (four-minute interval, synchronised countdown). Leon follows tall one (two blocks east, paralleling). Soundstone updates whispered. Both operatives converge on storage facility near warrens' edge — heavy timber door, brick facade, no signage. |
| After convergence | -- | Earth magic vibration sensing — palm against wall, two sets of footsteps, ground floor, centre, stationary. Leon finds side entrance (loading bay, east wall). They enter, crouch behind crates. |
| During meeting | -- | Operatives report to Cass via soundstone. Carter's new suppliers can't be pressured. Rumours dead (Carson's network). Kae's location unknown. Cass furious — Kae "gone off mission," attacking random people. Demands they find Kae, redirect via soundstone. Rages about "Varrant and his little team." Has "a plan — something more direct." Operatives report back in two days (Day 11). |
| ~5-10 min after operatives leave | -- | Phelan and Leon extract. Split: Leon continues following operatives (hoping trail leads to Kae). Phelan heads home, stops by Carter's. |
| Evening | -- | Carter's workshop (after hours). Phelan tells Carter it's Cass — Floundry retaliation. Carter enters the conflict as conscious participant. |
| Evening | -- | Walk to Chandler's Row. Soundstone warm and silent. Bracelet warm amber. Leon still in field. |

**Next (Day 9 night / Day 10+):**
- Leon still tracking operatives — Ch09: First Contact
- Cass's operatives report back Day 11
- Cass's "more direct" plan — seeds Ch10

---

## Ch09: First Contact — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| ~10:00 PM | Tenth bell | Soundstone call from Leon. Found Kae's location — washing woman's tenement, southern warrens. Phelan recognises the building from Ch05. Heads out. |
| ~10:30 PM | Past tenth bell | Arrives at tenement. Building mostly dark and asleep. Leon covering front entrance (north side) + back door (east side, shared yard). |
| ~10:35 PM | -- | Ward-breaking: paper talisman on window (Crenshaw & Howell, mass-produced). Four seconds. Enters through window. |
| ~10:35-10:45 PM | -- | Room search. Kae absent. Earth magic fails (too many people, too much interference). Searches dresser, cot, table. Crystal not found (under cloth in bottom drawer, missed). |
| ~10:45 PM | -- | Kae enters through door. Fight begins. Phase 1: Shock/evasion (~30-45 seconds). Phase 2: Close-range fire (~60-90 seconds). Phase 3: Ring deployment (~30-45 seconds). Phase 4: Crystal drain (3-4 seconds). Phase 5: Leon's rescue — crashes through shutters, wall of fire. Kae flees through hallway and out back. |
| ~10:50 PM | -- | 2-4 minutes recovery in the alley. Leon gets Phelan through window. They walk north toward canal district / Chandler's Row. |
| ~11:15-11:30 PM | -- | Arrive at Chandler's Row. Mere's assessment and care. Herbal preparation. Phelan to bed. Leon and Mere at kitchen table discussing tactical observations. |

**Next (Day 10+):**
- Kae's location burned — won't return to washing woman's tenement
- Cass's operatives report back Day 11 (Wednesday equivalent)
- Cass's "more direct" plan — **PAID OFF Ch10** (Floundry witnesses targeted)
- Bracelet at half power — reduced protection for future encounters
- Crystal architecture fragments locked in Phelan's memory — noise will replay (seeds Ch18)

---

## Ch10: The Pivot — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Morning | — | Phelan wakes. Bracelet auto-recharge confirmed broken (not just depleted — gone). Half power, no inlet. Private panic. |
| Morning | — | Kitchen. Mere's dual analysis: Kae behavioral profile (Thread A) + bracelet/crystal architectural compatibility (Thread B). Leon present (slept at Chandler's Row). Operational debrief energy. |
| ~10:30 AM | Half past tenth bell | Ledger arrives at Chandler's Row (first time — house call signals urgency). Tier Two promotion: 22 silvers/month, Archive access, intelligence priority, alias formalised. Then Floundry victim intel: Calla drained yesterday morning (canal market), Ned drained yesterday afternoon (~second bell, at home). Both Floundry case witnesses. Targeted, sequential. Departs ~10 minutes later. |
| Afternoon | — | Phelan and Leon debate defence vs. pursuit. Neither option actionable. Leon's Stay or Bolt — stays, frames transactionally. Phelan sees through it. |
| Evening | — | Devod arrives with apples (Henwick's orchard) and ideas. Bad ideas: decoy crystal, warrens informants, trained dogs, cats, pigeons. Genius idea: "If it won't pull, maybe you can push." Manual bracelet recharge seeded (untested). Chapter closes on warmth and hope. |

**Offpage events (Day 9, established in Ch10):**
- Calla Floundry drained at canal market (morning, Day 9)
- Ned Floundry drained at home (~second bell, Day 9)
- Cass's redirection of Kae was already active before the Ch09 night fight

**Next (Day 11+):**
- Cass's operatives report back Day 11 (Wednesday equivalent)
- Bracelet manual charge — untested, Devod's wagon idea
- Warn remaining Floundry witnesses (Carter first)
- Search for Kae (no current lead)

---

## Ch11: Thresholds — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| ~10:00 PM | Tenth bell | Leon departs Chandler's Row (exhausted, guilt-driven). "I'll check in tomorrow." Eyes the bracelet on the way out. Asks Mere to stop Phelan from testing the push theory. |
| ~10:05 PM | Just past tenth bell | Devod stays behind. Helps Mere clear cups (handles left, heaviest on bottom). Wipes table. Stalling — deliberate busy work. |
| ~10:10 PM | — | Devod's hands stop (tell). Retrieves second satchel from under his chair — Thresholds business records he's been carrying for a week. Sets papers on table. |
| ~10:15 PM | — | Mere begins reading. Analyst mode. Discovery 1: partnership documents — joint ownership, no transfer, Devod never signed away his share. Filed analytically. |
| ~10:25 PM | — | Discovery 2: payment records. 3 silvers/month FROM Devod TO Charlette, four years, stopping when Mere turned sixteen. Wrong for child support. "What was she holding over you?" |
| ~10:30 PM | — | Devod delivers the ultimatum truth. Composure shift — calmer, more controlled than delivery-driver persona. Godsday visits, missing basics, gloves incident (Mere at twelve). Charlette's threat: take Mere and disappear. Payments began. "Across the street was all I was allowed." |
| ~10:45 PM | — | Mere's cold finality. "She used access to her daughter as a financial instrument." Reclassifies both parents. "My model was wrong." |
| ~10:50 PM | — | The shelving. Mere decides Thresholds fight waits — case takes priority. Papers stay on the table. |
| ~10:55 PM | — | Devod prepares to leave. "Come by tomorrow, Dad." First use of "Dad" in twelve years. Devod exits with controlled composure. |
| ~11:00 PM | Eleventh bell | Chapter ends. Changed quiet. Phelan stays present without speaking. |

---

## Ch12: Devod — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Early morning (offpage) | Before sixth bell | Kae drains Devod in his room above the tanner's shop, Millford Street. Devod asleep. Life-threatening. |
| Mid-morning (offpage) | ~Seventh bell | Tanner notices Devod didn't come down (no cat window, no wagon). Goes up, finds him. Gets neighbor woman to sit with him. |
| 6:00 AM | Sixth bell | Fire combat training, courtyard. Fifteen seconds integrated. Leon asks about manual bracelet charging. Both land on "no reason not to try." Manual push-charge discovery: conscious feed, concentration thread, ~50% → ~70%. Stone: dim amber → warm amber-red. |
| ~9:00 AM | Ninth bell | Carter arrives at Chandler's Row with studded jacket. Leon told him about Kae fight. Demonstrates ore stud system: magical absorption (~20%) + impact-response leather (non-Newtonian, ore field bleeds into material). "If you're going to do something stupid, at least wear something I made." |
| ~10:00 AM | Tenth bell | Carter departs. Jacket on hook by the door. |
| Afternoon | Past second bell | Devod expected ("Come by tomorrow, Dad"). Doesn't show. Mere glances at door twice. Hasn't turned a page in twenty minutes. Atmospheric dread. |
| ~3:15 PM | Quarter past third bell | Tanner arrives at Chandler's Row with news. Devod found drained. Mere's composure holds three seconds, transforms to clinical fury. Out the door with herbal satchel. |
| ~3:25 PM | — | Arrive Millford Street (Mere covered it in 8 minutes, normally 12). Devod on cot: aged, diminished, barely breathing. Mere takes over — assessment, herbal stabilization. |
| ~4:05 PM | — | Mere: "He's stable. Stable isn't good." (40 minutes of treatment) |
| ~4:10 PM | — | Ledger arrives. Tried Chandler's Row first, closed open door. Guild protocol — Tier Two family member. Provides safe house, medical contacts. Single beat on "Devod Fields" name. Uses "Locksmith." Departs after ~10 minutes. |
| Evening | — | Mere working at bedside. Phelan in corner. Light failing. Chapter ends heavy — "a debt to collect." |

**Offpage events (Day 10 night / Day 11 early morning):**
- Kae drains Devod in his room, Millford Street (overnight — while Devod slept)
- Cass directed the attack from Thorngate (targeting Phelan's inner circle after Floundry witnesses)

**Next (Day 12+):**
- Ch14: Kae's full story revealed. Scene assessment. Ledger field collaboration.
- Cass's operatives were due to report back Day 11 (established Ch08) — thread not addressed in Ch12 or Ch13, available for Ch14+

---

## Ch13: The Weight of It — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| ~5:00-6:00 PM | ~Fifth-sixth bell | Chapter opens. Phelan has been in Devod's room two-three bells since arrival (~3:25 PM). Tanner and neighbor woman have departed. Room emptied of strangers. Mere cycling through stabilization compounds. |
| ~6:00 PM | — | Leon arrives (Ledger sent word to Chandler's Row). Stops in doorway. Can't enter. |
| ~6:30-7:00 PM | — | Mere discovers drain echo. Binding salts at left wrist darkening faster than other pulse points. "Something is still pulling." |
| ~7:00-7:15 PM | — | Mere mixes concentrated binding salt compound. Applies to left wrist endpoint. Thirty seconds to a minute held. Fresh diagnostic salts hold color — pulling stopped. "Now his body can start." |
| ~7:15-7:30 PM | — | Ledger has returned (appeared in corridor unannounced during treatment). Phelan steps into corridor. Team debate: Phelan's hunt instinct vs. strategic patience. Leon and Ledger argue Kae is evidence. Phelan concedes. Leon commits. Ledger: safe house prepared, medical contact by morning, resources "not limited to this situation." |
| ~7:30 PM | — | Leon departs. Training off tomorrow. Phelan returns to Devod's room. Sits. Chapter ends. |

**Key decisions made:**
- Tomorrow (Day 12): Scene assessment at Devod's room, then build the case properly
- Training cancelled Day 12
- Ledger's safe house and medical resources formalized — available for Kae's eventual custody
- Strategic approach: save Kae (evidence), don't hunt him

---

## Ch14: The Villain Becomes a Victim — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Early morning | ~Fourth bell | Devod opens eyes for the first time since draining — unfocused, not conscious. Mere's hands pause for one second, then resume. |
| Morning | ~Fifth-sixth bell | Phelan leaves Millford Street. Tells Mere he's going to the warrens. "Bring food. Something that isn't apples." |
| Morning | — | 20-minute walk to Carson's chapel-workshop on Greywell Lane. Delivers Devod draining news. Carson names Brida Voss and street contact. Dispatches Leon via soundstone to find street contact. |
| Late morning | — | Phelan and Carson walk to Brida's tenement (~10 minutes south of Carson's workshop, near old tannery). |
| Midday | — | Brida's tenement. Fire damage from Ch09 visible. Brida provides Kae's full backstory: congenital pain, streets, Elara, pendant, disappearance, crystal. "Are you a healer?" contextualised. ~30-40 minutes inside. |
| Early afternoon | — | Walk north toward guild quarter. |
| Afternoon | — | Compact administrative annex, two streets east of guild quarter. Ledger waiting. Phelan and Ledger work Compact filing systems together. Elara's healer registration found. Disbursement records: 12 silvers each to two operatives (six days before Elara's last activity), 4 silvers to street witness. Compliance officer reassignment order. Double reveal: Cass ordered the killing AND Elara was Ledger's personally recruited informant. |
| Late afternoon | — | Leave the annex. Ledger walks toward guild hall. Phelan walks south toward Millford Street. |
| Late afternoon (walk) | — | Soundstone pulse: Leon reports — found street contact. Paid four silvers, saw two men enter third floor (Elara's), saw them leave carrying something. Three sources confirmed. |
| Evening | — | Arrive Millford Street. Devod opened eyes twice more (second time tracked Mere's hand). Food delivered (bread, cheese, smoked fish — not apples). Phelan tells Mere Kae's story. Mere pivots to herbal pain management solution. Chapter ends: bracelet at 70%, anger pointing at Thorngate, "the quiet of knowing." |

**Key decisions / shifts:**
- Mission changed: save Kae, not just stop him
- Cass confirmed as Elara's murderer through three independent sources
- Mere already bridging Devod recovery research → Kae pain management
- Ledger's personal investment fully visible to Phelan
- No plan yet — that's Ch15-16

**Next (Day 13+):**
- Ch15: The Wolf — Brennan Toor visits recovering Devod. Pathfinder past revealed to Phelan.
- Plan to save Kae needs to be built (Ch16)

---

## Ch15: The Wolf — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Pre-dawn | Before sixth bell | Phelan wakes in the chair at Millford Street (slept overnight). Neck at bad angle. Mere at bedside (~38 hours continuous, breaks measured in minutes). Bracelet at 70%, passive thread dead. |
| Early morning | — | Devod's eyes open — first real consciousness since the draining. Focused, present. Manages "Mere" and "How long?" Mere: "Two days. Rest." Same protocol as Phelan's Ch09 recovery. Devod complies. |
| Mid-morning | — | Knock at the door. Brennan Toor arrives. Mere greets him by name — no surprise. "He's awake. Briefly." Brennan enters with combat-trained spatial awareness. Calls Devod "Wolf." "Word came through the network that you were down. Took me two days to get here from the northern contracts." |
| Mid-morning | — | Brennan calls Phelan "the Locksmith" — guild nomenclature. Phelan's noise fires: Locksmith anomaly (guild intel reached Brennan's network — Ledger seed). Mere explains knowing Brennan since birth. |
| Mid-morning | — | Brennan tells the Vethek Pass story (~23-24 years ago). Four ideas, three failures, fourth saved the unit. Devod as the Wolf — pack leader, first into close quarters. Phelan's internal cascade: everything remapped from civilian instinct to Pathfinder training. |
| Mid-morning | — | Brennan asks about the draining. Phelan gives him Cass Rykhard's name. Brennan offers Aldric Vane contact (warehouse district, east side). Departs. Devod grips Brennan's forearm — two seconds, most physical effort since consciousness. |
| Afternoon | — | Room resettles. Devod in real sleep. Phelan begins active bracelet charging — upper range resists more (pressurised stone, depleted reserves). Projects: 80% by evening, 90% by morning. |
| Afternoon/evening | — | Phelan continues charging. Mere working. Quiet before the plan. |

**Key decisions / new information:**
- Devod's Pathfinder past now known to Phelan (Mere always knew)
- Aldric Vane contact available for Ch16-17 planning
- Brennan in Drenwick for a few more days
- Bracelet actively charging toward 100% (manual push, upper range slower)
- The Cairns network confirmed active — guild nomenclature anomaly filed

**Next (Day 14+):**
- Ch16: Planning the Impossible — team assembles plan to save Kae. Mere's herbal research, Phelan's Flaw Sight data, Devod's contribution, Aldric Vane contact. Thresholds three-way collaboration + Reversal beat (moved from Ch11).
- Bracelet should reach ~90-100% by Day 14 morning

---

## Ch16: Planning the Impossible — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| ~7:00 AM | Seventh bell | Phelan wakes at Millford Street. Bracelet warmth shift woke him — amber-red, ~90% (overnight manual charge worked). Grey winter morning. Tanner moving downstairs. Devod on cot in deep, genuine rest. Mere on floor beside cot, herbal research spread out, still working. |
| ~7:00-8:00 AM | Seventh-eighth bell | Phelan sits in corner. Noise begins replaying Ch9 Flaw Sight fragments (five days of background sorting). Mere's Ch10 observation (bracelet recognised crystal) is the trigger. Fragments organise: crystal architecture, connection log, authentication structure. Bracelet and crystal performed a handshake during Ch9 drain — same era, same makers. Seal already in the crystal's ledger. |
| ~8:00 AM | Eighth bell | Phelan enters full hyperfocus. Non-functional — room, Mere, Devod all peripheral. Eyes open, nothing behind them. No notes, no muttering, no movement. |
| ~8:00-8:30 AM | — | Mere notices stillness. Tries his name twice. Devod wakes, tries Phelan's name, recognises the absence from military experience: "He's working. Leave him." Mere uncertain — not a crash (no symptoms), not the usual noise (too quiet). Shifts to preparation mode. Ledger watching from near the door. |
| ~8:30 AM | Half past eighth bell | Ledger arrives. No knock — tanner knows him. Assesses room. Asks about Devod. Mere reports: drain echo closed, but replaced by low-level passive draw (same behavior bracelet used to have). Devod's draw is unique among victims — bracelet was involved. |
| ~8:30-? | — | Phelan's hyperfocus continues. Ledger, Mere, Devod wait. Duration uncertain (winter light unreliable). |
| ? | — | Phelan surfaces mid-thought: "The bracelet already knows the crystal." Breakthrough: artifacts exchanged seals during Ch9 drain. Authentication already exists. "I have the key." Mere recalibrates — stillness was processing, not withdrawal. |
| After breakthrough | — | Plan assembly begins. Mere: herbal treatment ready (~80% pain reduction, sustainable, no dependency curve). Ledger: safehouse location (south docks, two streets east of old chandler's warehouse, near Phelan's old place) + Brida Voss is Kae's next target. Kae fully back under Compact/Cass management. |
| After intel | — | Devod contributes from cot. Bad ideas: Compact disguise (rejected), storm drain tunnels (flooded — winter). Genius idea: don't create a reason for Kae to leave — he already has one. Use Kae's existing mission (targeting Brida) as the trigger. Two simultaneous operations, coordinated timing. Pathfinder tactical thinking. |
| After plan | — | Three-part plan crystallises: (1) Leon at Brida's to intercept/contain Kae, (2) Phelan + Ledger infiltrate safehouse while Kae is out, (3) Mere has herbal bridge ready for when crystal stops working. Ledger commits to breaking into a Compact safehouse. |
| After Ledger departs | — | Ledger leaves. Energy drains from room. Devod sleeps first (deliberate — progress). Mere works 20 more minutes, decelerating. Falls asleep against wall beside Devod. |
| Midday | — | Phelan closes eyes. Bracelet at ~90%, amber-red. Noise settled. Earned rest. |

**Key decisions / new information:**
- Bracelet/crystal handshake confirmed — authentication already exists from Ch9 drain. Phelan has the key to access the crystal as a trusted process.
- Bracelet/crystal swapped functions: bracelet lost passive draw, Devod gained it (crystal side). Exchange during Ch9 contact.
- Safehouse identified: south docks, Compact-registered holding. Standard configuration — outer wards, rotating access seals, supply drops. Kae operating from inside, fully under Cass.
- Brida Voss is Kae's next target — working through his old protectors (loose threads).
- Mere's herbal treatment complete: ~80% chronic pain reduction, sustainable, no dependency curve. 20% baseline is permanent. Needs access to Kae for physiology-specific dosing adjustment.
- Three-part operational plan established (Leon/intercept, Phelan+Ledger/safehouse, Mere/treatment bridge).
- Devod's changed demeanor confirmed: quieter, grounded, genius idea delivered without performance.

**Next (Day 15+):**
- Ch18: Into the Fire — two parallel operations. Phelan + Ledger infiltrate safehouse (crystal exploit). Leon intercepts Kae at Brida's (containment). Ninth bell.

---

## Ch17: The Approach — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| Morning | — | Phelan wakes at Millford Street. Deep rest, no dreams. Bracelet at ~90% (amber-red, dense, saturated). Devod sitting up Day 4 — lucid, present, quiet confidence. Mere at table with herbal preparations (three compounds, dosing schedule). |
| Mid-morning | — | Phelan departs Millford Street. Route: Leon → Carson/Brida → Ledger. |
| Mid-morning | — | Leon at chandler's courtyard. Fire drills alone, angry bursts. Phelan briefs three-part plan. Leon angry at save-not-kill — wants Kae to be a monster. Accepts intercept role ("serving someone else's plan"). Phelan gives address; Carson already at Brida's. |
| Late morning | — | Brida's tenement. Carson already there (warned her, brought jacket from Chandler's Row via Jenet). Brida: Kae stopped coming 4 days ago (Day 11 — same day as Devod draining). Spotted casing the building twice. Ledger's intel: tonight. Jacket delivered — Carter's ore studs, armor without looking like armor. |
| Midday | — | Ledger at guild quarter edge. Walk south toward docks. Safehouse security briefing: outer ward ring (12-bell refresh), inner wards (asset-protection), supply drops via warded chit (changes every 3 days, 45-min window). Ledger can read ward states. Entry strategy: bracelet reads as ambient noise, Flaw Sight passive, 2-3 min window for crystal work. |
| Afternoon | — | Soundstone confirmations. Leon: *I'll be there.* Mere: compounds ready at Millford Street. |
| Late afternoon | — | Carson confirms Leon's arrival at Brida's via tanner's boy (three intermediaries). Carson departs to chapel-workshop. |
| Evening | — | Phelan + Ledger in position south of dock road, warehouse wall. Sightline to safehouse. Two hours to ninth bell. |
| ~7:00 PM | Seventh bell | Fading light. City going about Godsday evening. |
| ~8:30 PM | Half past eighth bell | Supply drop chit window opens. Chit holds for 45 minutes. |
| ~9:00 PM | Ninth bell | **Target time** — Kae expected at Brida's. Simultaneous operations begin. |

**Key details:**
- Kae's last visit to Brida: Day 11 (same day he drained Devod). Connection intentional — that night broke something in him.
- Ledger does not know the name "Flaw Sight" — calls it "that thing you do, the way you read workings."
- Pathfinder seed #6: Ledger's ward knowledge is field-operator level, not desk-analyst. Phelan's noise: shadow the size of a building.
- Sniff: male, at Chandler's Row, fed by Jenet Carterson.

**Next (Day 15 evening+):**
- Ch18: Into the Fire — ninth bell. Two parallel operations: safehouse infiltration (crystal exploit) + Kae intercept at Brida's (Leon containment).

---

## Ch18: Into the Fire — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| ~9:00 PM | Ninth bell | Operations begin. Soundstone active. Phelan hears Leon at Brida's — chair scraping, nervous. Brida settles Leon ("Sit *down*"). |
| ~9:00 PM | Ninth bell | Phelan + Ledger approach safehouse along warehouse wall. South docks, near Phelan's old shack. |
| ~9:01 PM | — | Outer ward detected. Post-Compact institutional. Ledger bypasses with disc + stylus at relay point — 8-second gap. They enter. Gap closes. |
| ~9:02 PM | — | Crystal located on table beside ration pack and tin cup. Phelan opens Flaw Sight. Bracelet handshake credentials authenticate. Ledger starts countdown: "Clock's running. Three minutes." |
| ~9:02 PM | — | **Simultaneous (soundstone):** Kae arrives at Brida's. Recognizes Leon's Telessi sleeve. Charges screaming. Leon deploys containment fire — barriers, not weapons. |
| ~9:03 PM | — | Phelan reads connection log (victim signatures). Finds operator designation. Begins revoking Kae's credentials — widening overuse cracks. Ledger: "Two minutes." |
| ~9:03 PM | — | **Soundstone:** Kae's voice changes — rage → desperation. Crystal high burning off. Chronic pain returning. Leon tightens the fire cage. |
| ~9:04 PM | — | Operator designation removed. Targeting logic rewritten: open binding, any operator → target. Crystal will drain its next user. Modification sealed — disguised as wear/entropy. Ledger: "Thirty seconds." |
| ~9:04 PM | — | Phelan steps back. "Done." Ledger: "That's not in any manual I've read." Crystal left in place. |
| ~9:05 PM | — | Exit. Ledger reverses ward bypass. Outer ward resumes. Soundstone quiet — two sets of breathing, no more fire. |
| ~9:05 PM | — | **Soundstone:** Kae breaks. "Just kill me. Make it stop." Leon names Elara, promises Mere's treatment. Kae: "You're lying." Leon: "No. We can help you." Kae surrenders. Leon stays. |
| ~9:06 PM+ | — | Phelan takes fingers off soundstone. He and Ledger walk through south docks in silence. Heading toward Millford Street where Mere waits with herbal treatment. |

**Key details:**
- Total safehouse infiltration: ~3 minutes (planned for 2, executed within 3-minute ward window).
- Kae fought Leon on fumes — residual crystal strength, no crystal on him. Crystal left at safehouse.
- Crystal left in place as trap + evidence. Connection log intact (every victim's signature).
- Ledger's ward bypass: physical, non-magical, practiced muscle memory (Pathfinder seed #7).
- Kae surrendered willingly — not defeated by the crystal trap. Leon's words, not Phelan's exploit.

**Next (Day 15 night):**
- Ch19: The Deal — Immediate aftermath. Mere treats Kae, escort to guild hall, deal negotiated.

---

## Ch19: The Deal — Detailed Timeline

| Time | Bell | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| ~9:06 PM | — | Leon's soundstone call — Kae standing down, needs Mere. Phelan and Ledger split on south docks. Ledger north toward Greystone Lane. Phelan west toward Millford Street. |
| ~9:15 PM | — | Phelan arrives at Millford Street. Mere already packed. Devod awake, quiet nod. Phelan and Mere walk to Brida's. |
| ~9:25 PM | — | Arrive at Brida's tenement. Kae on the floor, shaking. Leon at the door. Mere treats Kae — three herbal compounds (spine, hips, knees/shoulders). ~2 minutes to apply. |
| ~9:30 PM | — | Herbs take effect. 80% pain relief. Kae goes still. Mere gives reapplication instructions (6-8 hours). Flags moss supply shortage. |
| ~9:35 PM | — | Mere departs to Millford Street (Devod). Brida asks about Kae. Escort formation: Leon behind, Phelan right. Kae can walk. |
| ~9:40 PM | — | The walk begins. South docks → canal district → guild quarter. Kae tries to talk, cut short. ~15-20 minutes walking. |
| ~10:00 PM | Tenth bell | Arrive at 14 Greystone Lane. Kae placed in interview room (second door on left). Water, told to wait. |
| ~10:05 PM | — | Debrief in corridor. Phelan explains crystal trap logic to Ledger. Leon: "Fill me in at practice later." Ledger's Book 3 seed: "The Compact has artifacts they consider untouchable. You just proved they aren't." |
| ~10:10 PM | — | The deal begins. Ledger lays out terms. Kae resists ("Another guild telling me what to do"). |
| ~10:15 PM | — | **Elara bombshell.** Ledger reveals Cass ordered Elara killed. Kae's contained explosion — surges up, body fails, sits back down. "He killed her. He killed her and then gave me the crystal." |
| ~10:20 PM | — | Deal signed. "What do you need me to say." Kae begins writing testimony. Ledger guides. Leon at door. Phelan observes. |
| ~10:20 PM+ | — | Testimony in progress. Chapter ends with Kae writing, the deal done. |

**Key details:**
- Total elapsed time Ch19: ~75 minutes (9:06 PM → ~10:20 PM).
- Continuous from Ch18 — still Day 15 night, Godsday.
- Mere on-page ~10 minutes total (Millford pickup + Brida treatment + departure).
- Kae's first pain relief since Elara's death. 80% reduction via herbal compounds.
- Kae told about Elara's murder during the deal — transformed from resistant to motivated.

**Next (Day 15 night → Day 16+):**
- Ch20: Picking Up the Pieces — Case wrap. Ledger's Flaw Sight confrontation. Leon's new philosophy. Carson acknowledged. Kae formal custody.

---

## Ch20: Picking Up the Pieces — Continuity Notes

- **Day 17 (Twosday).** Two days after deal signing (Day 15 Godsday night). Day 16 was an off-screen recovery day.
- **Location:** 14 Greystone Lane, **private debrief room, second floor** — distinct from the ground-floor interview room (Ch19) and Ledger's third-door-on-right office corridor (Ch02+). Tier Two access only. Two upholstered chairs, low desk, single window.
- **Bell timing:** Meeting scheduled for third bell (afternoon). Meeting runs through afternoon into evening. Phelan exits at dusk — "the last of the afternoon had turned into the edge of the evening," lamplighter working the far end of Greystone Lane.
- **Guild codename protocol on-page:** Ledger opens with *"Locksmith"* and closes with *"That's the meeting, Locksmith."* Phelan returns *"Ledger."* Standing protocol: guild members address each other by codename inside guild spaces.
- **Ch20 single-scene structure:** No internal scene breaks during the meeting. Three phases (case closure → Flaw Sight → Merrenwood) flow through one continuous conversation. Single `* * *` break between the meeting and the walk home.
- **Kae's testimony phrasing:** Ledger says *"Kae's testimony from two nights back"* — Day 15 Godsday night → Day 17 Twosday = two nights back. Confirm any future references use "Godsday night" or "two nights back" (NOT "Friday night" — Godsday is not Friday in Corvel's week).
- **Corvel week mapping (confirmed):** Day 1 Godsday → Day 2 Monday equiv → Day 3 Tuesday equiv → Day 4 Wednesday equiv → Day 5 Thursday equiv → Day 6 Friday equiv → Day 7 Saturday equiv → Day 8 Godsday. Day 15 = Godsday. Day 17 = Twosday. Godsday is the Sunday-equivalent/week-start, NOT Friday.
- **Ch20 case fee delivery:** 150 silvers gross, 20% commission, 120 silvers net. Paid in coin, guild-sealed oilcloth pouch, on-desk mid-meeting between Phase 1 close and Phase 2 pivot.
- **Phelan's Flaw Sight disclosure (curated):** Three-layer honest answer that omits the word *flaw* and the bracelet's handshake mechanic. "Three true statements that fit into a report without disturbing it." Ledger's response *"close enough for the paperwork"* establishes a private-file precedent. Do not claim Ledger knows the full Flaw Sight mechanic in Book 2 — he has firsthand observation (Ch18) plus Phelan's curated disclosure (Ch20), which together produce a gap Ledger is deliberately not pressing.
- **Merrenwood folder (Ch20 Phase 3):** Off-book Cairns-network work. The name "Cairns" is NOT used on-page; Ledger describes it as *"This is mine. My own channels, my own time."* Phelan has now seen this folder-style twice (Ch10 and Ch20) but still does not know the network's internal name.
- **Ch20 Phelan internal state:** Bracelet cool, jacket still in use, no bracelet demand during the meeting. Case fee pouch slides into jacket pocket. Walks home to Chandler's Row (west and a little north from Greystone Lane) via the merchants' quarter route rather than the canal — "I didn't want to do it against traffic."
- **Day 18+:** Ch21 "The New Quiet" picks up from Chandler's Row. Personal resolutions (Thresholds, Devod recovery, house plans, Leon philosophy beat, fire training plateau acknowledgment).

---

## Ch21: The New Quiet — Continuity Notes

- **Day 18 (Freyasday).** Day after the Ch20 debrief. Three days after the deal signing (Day 15 Godsday night).
- **Five scenes, one day, dawn to night:** (1) sixth-bell training at chandler's courtyard; (2) mid-late morning Thresholds confrontation at Hallow and Third; (3) late morning Carter's shop (with Mere); (4) unscheduled afternoon walk + dusk Chandler's Row financial beat; (5) evening-into-night kitchen scene (marriage + children) plus closing bed/dark micro-scene.
- **Sixth bell training is the first on-page daily session since Ch12.** Fire plateau at 15 seconds on-page confirmed as plateau. No forced breakthrough. Leon names it: *"You're not going to get sixteen out of Carterson's ring."* Ring canon: Carterson's Ring, primary focusing tool. Sets up Book 3 for a new ring/focusing tool.
- **Leon's Harrow Vale threshold seal:** Pre-Compact placeable ward, pulled from a ruin three years back (the dig where Leon came back with half a broken boot and a pack that rattled wrong). Locks a doorframe for six to eight bells, no offensive load, one-shot. Fine perimeter engravings in old script, not worn. Being brokered personally to Arren Yule for 2,400 silvers.
- **Ward pricing canon:** Commoner-class Compact-authorized entry ward = ~10 silvers (Brida's windows as reference). A "good one" = ~50 silvers. 2,400 silvers = 48× a good lock — the price anomaly that tipped Leon into a night of buyer vetting.
- **Arren Yule:** Private collector, south end of the arcane district. Named only in Ch21 as a throwaway contact for the scene. Carson already cleared the name through his network (no guild ties, no odd habits on the wire). Random collector of artifacts.
- **Leon's philosophy-shift beat:** Four months ago Leon would have handed the piece to a fence and filed the paperwork under things that weren't his problem. Now he brokers his own deals, vets buyers personally, spent a night turning the seal over looking for a weapon hiding inside a lock. Lands on *"it's a lock"* + hammer metaphor. Never uses the word *growth.*
- **Thresholds confrontation timing:** Late morning Day 18, during Thresholds' normal trading hours. Mere lays out two options (partnership reversion vs. forgery complaint). Devod answers without looking at Charlette: *"Option one."* Charlette: *"Fine."* Mere had the notarial stamp pre-prepared in the leather case. Thresholds thread is now closed at the file level — any future reference should treat the partnership as reverted and Mere as sole-authority on supply, treatment, and floor.
- **Devod's physical state (new canon Ch21):** Day 7 post-draining. Walked from Millford Street to Thresholds (Hallow and Third) before sixth bell — Devod's window was dark when Phelan and Mere passed Millford on the way. Sleeves past elbows, posture of someone who spent thirty years doing something other than limping. Grey hair stayed; the Brennan Toor Vethek Pass story (Ch15) is visible in his shoulders now. Phelan's Pathfinder model for Devod is fully rewritten — no speech, silent internal reframe.
- **Carter's shop visit — Mere present for the first time in the book.** Carter greets her warmly, offers tea, she declines. Jacket stand canon: three new builds with ore studs at collar and cuffs, "none of them exactly like mine" — iteration has moved past Phelan's specific unit.
- **Jacket on the Ch18 safehouse op — accurate report:** Phelan tells Carter the jacket was worn for a quiet job and did not have to absorb anything. The job stayed stealth, the jacket was insurance, not tested. Future continuity: do not describe Phelan's jacket as combat-tested in Book 2. (The Ch09 Kae fight predates jacket delivery; the Ch18 safehouse op was stealth; no other combat in Ch20-21.)
- **Tomael arc closed (Ch21 subtext, no name spoken):** Carter: *"Gear I wish I'd been making five years ago. Wish I'd had it sooner. For people who needed it sooner."* Then: cutting leather for a woman in Greymarch Barrows. Tomael's widow is unnamed on-page; Greymarch Barrows is the canonical location of Tomael's death (Ch02).
- **Unscheduled afternoon:** Phelan's first unscheduled hour in Drenwick since approximately a month before Ledger's first knock (Ch01 Day 1). By Ch21 math, that's roughly six weeks of continuous case/training scheduling ending on Day 18. The cooling bracelet has started to "feel like its own kind of sound" — first on-page indication the bracelet is permanently passive-manual-only post-Ch09 swap.
- **Mere's first income line:** Twelve silvers/month ghostveil moss standing order from Ledger's office. Delivered by runner Day 18 morning (while Phelan was at training). **First line of income in her name, not Phelan's.** Phelan's phrasing: *"That's yours."* Mere's: *"It's ours."* Note the distinction for any future treatment of finances.
- **Case fee math on-page (Ch21 kitchen beat):**
  - **Total savings: 438 silvers.**
  - **House target: 1,300 silvers.**
  - **Fraction: ~1/3.**
  - **Recurring: 46 silvers/month (22 retainer + 12 ore + 12 moss).**
  - **Time to half target: ~8 months at recurring alone.**
  - **Phelan's line:** *"Faster if one doesn't drain me first."*
  - Math is now locked as Ch21 canon for any continuity reference into Epilogue or Book 3 opening.
- **House plans — Revision 11 filed on-page Ch21.** East-facing kitchen (Rev 10) + Devod's integrated-drainage kernel (hollow-piling from Ch01). Drafted by Phelan on a scrap the night of Day 17; Mere had added three lines of annotation he did not remember her adding. Laid over Rev 10 — "It fits." Phelan: *"Rev 11."* Three inches closer.
- **Lot canon (NEW Ch21):** The lot is explicitly a **sloped hilltop lot,** not just "sloped." First descriptor on-page. Drainage has to route outward and down simultaneously — which is why Devod's Ch01 hollow-piling kernel was the right answer. Any future lot descriptions should carry "hilltop."
- **Kae status confirmation (Ch21, single beat):** 80% herbal protocol holding. Moss supply sustainable through this winter and the next as long as the guild keeps the twelve-a-month standing order. Ledger has his own reasons for keeping the line. Confirmation, not a time-bomb conversation.
- **Marriage and children conversation (Ch21 centerpiece):**
  - Mere proposes at the kitchen table Day 18 evening. *"I've decided we should get married."*
  - Phelan's first deflection: priest question. Mere laughs (short, surprised). *"You're my partner. I don't care about a priest."*
  - Real question surfaced: *"Do you want children? I want children. Within the next year. Before I'm in my mid-thirties."* And: *"These things have an order."*
  - Phelan's second deflection: logistics (Chandler's Row one bedroom, retainer, house months out). Mere: *"Do you want them?"*
  - Phelan's honest answer: *"I don't know how."* First time said aloud to any person in nearly thirty years. Father wound on-page without naming the father.
  - Mere: *"Neither do I. I'm going to be wrong a lot. That doesn't matter. What matters is that we do our best. It will work itself out. We aren't dumb people."* Then: *"Our genetics are favorable."*
  - Phelan's interior acceptance (inside the noise cascade): *(A kid. With Mere. Yes. Yes, I want that.)*
  - Court house research (Mere had it filed last month, before the case): Drenwick Court House, second floor, civil registry, counter two, six silvers filing fee, ten-day waiting period before the contract takes effect, records check for prior marriage + identity. Hours: 2nd afternoon bell to 7th, daily except Godsday.
  - Phelan: *"Okay. We'll go this week."*
  - **Decision is PRIVATE to Phelan and Mere for the entirety of Book 2 per locked canon.** No other character learns across Ch21 or the epilogue. Devod, Leon, Carter, Carson, Ledger all uninformed. Reveals deferred to Book 3.
- **Ten-day waiting period math:** Day 18 + "this week" (say Day 19-25 filing window) + 10-day waiting period = contract takes legal effect between Day 29 and Day 35. Epilogue can be set before, during, or after the waiting period — any treatment needs to hold to this clock.
- **Closing micro-scene:** Bed, dark, bracelet on nightstand (cool, not asking). Noise quieter than usual — not silent, Phelan doesn't trust silence from the noise after Brida's. *(a kid.)* — one parenthetical, short, un-spiralled. The noise lets it sit. Phelan sleeps. Final line: *"I slept."*
- **Sniff:** Not named in Ch21. Presence implied from Ch17 continuity (at Chandler's Row, fed by Jenet Carterson). No on-page appearance.
- **Bell references used in Ch21:** Sixth bell (training start). "Before sixth bell" (Devod's arrival at Thresholds). Second afternoon bell to seventh bell (court house hours, cited by Mere). No other bells tracked on-page.
- **Day 19+:** Epilogue territory. Court house filing expected within the week per Phelan's *"Okay. We'll go this week."* Any epilogue time references should account for the filing window + 10-day waiting period.

---

## Epilogue: The Filing — Continuity Notes

- **Day 28 (ten days after Ch21 Day 18).** Late winter, edge of the first thaw. Four scenes across Day 28 plus Day 29 morning. Three `* * *` breaks.
- **Scene 1 — Morning at Chandler's Row (Day 28 dawn).** Phelan down before Mere wakes. Bracelet cool ("twelve days now since it had last asked for anything"). Rev 12 of house plans drafted privately with an extra upstairs room over the drainage pilings. Savings unchanged at 438.
- **Scene 2 — Civil registry (Day 28, fifteen past second afternoon bell).** Drenwick Court House, second floor, counter two. Six silvers filing fee, crown papers presented, seals verified against reference plate, clerk reads the clause, both say *no* to existing joint contracts with crown or any of the six duchies, stamp lands. Contract effective (per the clerk's line). Walk out into winter light, Mere's hand in Phelan's elbow all the way home.
- **Scene 3 — Wedding party (Day 28 evening).** Chandler's Row. Attendees in arrival order: Carter & Jenet, Carson, Leon, Devod, Ledger (last). Charlette absent (not invited). Ledger's gift, hook, and Cass line close the scene.
- **Scene 4 — Day 29 dawn.** Phelan alone downstairs. Refuses Ledger's three-day grace window. Walks out to find Ledger. Book 2 closing line.
- **Critical timeline / canon anchors:**
  - Day 28 filing = Day 18 Ch21 + 10 days
  - Contract takes legal effect Day 38 (Day 28 + 10-day waiting period)
  - Ledger's grace window "three or four days" = Days 28-32 (Phelan refuses)
  - Book 3 opens ~4 months after Ch21 per author's plan = approximately Day 138
  - The ten-day waiting period ends "somewhere inside the first thaw" — places Day 38 at the late-winter/early-spring turn
  - Epilogue total word count ~2,820
- **Codename protocol:** Ledger uses *Locksmith* at the handoff (guild business) and reverts to narrative third-person for the gift line and Cass line. Consistent with Ch20 canon.
- **Crown papers canon (NEW Epilogue):** Folded parchment cards with royal seal in wax, name and birth year in clerk's hand. Phelan's is nine years old. Mere's is older with a single never-unfolded crease. Verified at civil registry counters against a reference plate mounted under the counter lip.
- **Six-duchy marriage registry cross-check (NEW Epilogue):** Civil registry clerk asks whether the parties have any existing joint contract on file with the crown or with any of the six duchies. Establishes that civil contracts cross-check both crown and duchy records.
- **Mere's hand in Phelan's elbow** — first on-page physical affection beat on the walk home from the court house. Wordless. Book 2 epilogue adds this and the Mere/Devod hug as the two physical-affection beats for the chapter.
- **Phelan's Rev 12 — private, not yet shown to Mere.** Pregnancy foreshadow via the extra upstairs room. Do not reference on-page until Phelan shows Mere the draft (Book 3 territory).
- **Ledger's thaumometer** — pre-Compact, 50+ yard range, walking map projection. New Book 3 deployable asset. In Phelan's coat pocket going into Book 3.
- **Devod's folded address** — in an unknown hand (not Devod's own). Source implied to be Brennan Toor or another Cairns/Pathfinder-adjacent contact. Book 3 Pathfinder seed. In Phelan's care going forward.
- **Ledger's Cass line** — single sentence delivered at the door on Ledger's way out: *"He knows about the crystal. He doesn't know how. He's not going to stop wondering."* Compresses the outline's original Cass POV beat into one sentence. Preserves Phelan POV continuity.
- **Book 2 closing line:** *"I put it in my coat pocket and went to find Ledger."* Mirrors Book 1 epilogue's *"I turned to page two"* forward-motion rhythm.
- **Decision privacy lock holds:** No character other than Phelan and Mere learns anything about the Ch21 kitchen-table conversation (children, father wound, interior agreement) across the epilogue. The filing itself is public (they're at a wedding party). The deeper content stays private. All further reveals deferred to Book 3.

---

## Standing Schedule (established)

| Time | Event | Notes |
|------|-------|-------|
| Sixth bell (daily) | Training with Leon | Courtyard behind chandler's shop. Godsday exception: fourth bell. |
| Seventh bell | Thresholds opens | Not on Godsday. |

---

## Continuity Notes

- Book 1 epilogue: deep winter. Book 2 Ch01: late winter, 3 months later.
- "Three months of them now" — Godsday mornings at Chandler's Row (line 3).
- Ch02 training: ring accuracy work (targeting at range with focusing ring), not sparring. Thirteen-second ceiling achieved (ugly, 50% success rate). Ch01 ceiling was 12.5 seconds.
- Ch02 guild hall: Phelan goes deeper into the building (third door on right) for the first time. Previous debriefs were second door on left (interview room).
- Ch02 training: Charged whip demonstrated — 6-second charge, thick whip-arc at 15–18ft. Leon notes improvement from last week. Ring's charge tolerance has increased over 3 months of daily practice.
- Ch02 Carter: 3 suppliers (Maren — mineral broker east road; Halwick — specialty district inscription-grade; Donnick's Refined Compounds — Compact-certified). All went quiet over 6 weeks. Carter has 6-8 weeks of reserve before critical shortage. Revealed brother Tomael's death to Phelan (third door, second floor, Greymarch Barrows — gear failed).
- Ch02 Ledger: 7 confirmed victims, 12 investigation sites, pattern over 6 weeks (first 3 in 4 weeks, last 4 in 2 weeks — escalating). Compact compliance officer filed report, was reassigned to Thorngate records management.
- Ch03: First skip of daily training with Leon — case takes priority. Noted as break in established routine.
- Ch03: Mere's analytical contribution — cognitive confusion precedes fatigue in 5/7 cases (sequence, not cluster). Different analytical method, same data set.
- Ch03: Victim names established — Vellen Thrace (student, arcane district), Ren Dorren (dockworker, warrens, wife Mrs. Dorren, three children: eldest out, Tam ~3-4, toddler ~18 months). Ren is 31, looks 50.
- Ch03: Phelan introduces himself as "the Locksmith" to Mrs. Dorren — first time using the professional name with a civilian. Ledger had told Mrs. Dorren someone would stop by.
- Ch03: Mere planned the investigation route (drawn on paper, three numbered stops + Maren's brokerage). Filed Carter's supply problem from one mention the night before.
- Ch03: Noise-leash — Phelan deliberately disengages from analytical spiral at third site. Skill taught himself since Floundry crash. Three months of practice. The noise resists but the leash holds.
- Ch03: Maren's full name established — Maren Harwick. Stonewalled Phelan ("I can't help you"). Institutional pressure, not criminal.
- Ch03: Outbound extraction pathway points northeast from both arcane district and warrens sites. Same vector.
- Ch03: Residue-only site (cobbler near canal) shows incomplete signature — edge of instrument's effective range.
- Ch03: Pattern confirmed — one operator, one instrument, escalating output. Instrument's signature, not operator's (no personal magical fingerprint). Pre-Compact architecture is the instrument's construction, not the user's method.
- Next chapter: Leon conversation about pre-Compact signatures (Day 4).
- Ch04: No training again (second consecutive skip — case took over the session). Meeting was case conversation, not the usual sparring/accuracy work.
- Ch04: Leon identifies crystal as Mallory focusing crystal from signatures alone (irregular node spacing = biological routing, deeper anchoring = life-force baseline hooks, northeast vector = outbound extraction channel).
- Ch04: Leon reveals father's injury — "My father got attacked between towns. Healers aren't cheap." First time Phelan learns the reason for the cheap sale. Phelan had noticed the low price (1,200 for a Mallory original) but hadn't pressed — "Leon's business was Leon's business."
- Ch04: Crystal sold ~6 months before Book 2 (Leon to Harren). Consistent with design spec timeline.
- Ch04: Harren's Collected Antiquities — east side of arcane district. Three ward layers (military sequence). Harren: mid-fifties, barrel-shaped, appraisal eyes. Sold crystal within a month to intermediary via broker Galden.
- Ch04: Galden — broker, canal district, Warehouse Row, third building from junction. Leon pursuing (2-day timeline given).
- Ch04: Leon bought Telessi projection sleeve from Harren — 40 silvers, third era, +8-10ft fire range. Jealous of Phelan's ring.
- Ch04: Ledger brings "Kae" (street name) and dead woman intel. Folder predates draining case — worn edges, weeks/months of handling. Personal investment visible to Phelan's cold-read. Does NOT reveal Elara was guild informant.
- Ch04: Two new victim reports — one critical (woman, merchants' quarter, healer gives even chances). Escalation from surviving to critical confirmed.
- Ch04: Phelan volunteers case info to Mere unprompted — new behavior, not examined.
- Ch04: The Misread — Mere says "Tell him to be strategic. 'Careful' isn't in his vocabulary." Phelan reads criticism of himself for letting Leon run unsupervised. Adjusts behavior. Mere didn't mean it. Recalibration in Ch05.
- Ch04: Noise-leash used on walk home. Resistance familiar. Consistent with Ch03 leash growth.
- Ch04: Ledger's map has new red pins clustered in the northeast — consistent with extraction pathway vector from Ch03.
- Next chapter: Leon pursues Galden + Carter contacts (Day 1 of 2). Phelan street investigation — two vectors (Ledger's intel + arcane trail) converge on Kae (Ch05).
- Ch05: The Misread recalibrated — Mere noticed Phelan's behavioral shift, asked why. Phelan admitted hearing criticism that wasn't there. Mere's structural fix: "When it happens, ask." Filed permanently: Mere's words are the complete message.
- Ch05: Ledger debriefed three-site analysis with too-precise methodology questions (how, not what). Phelan deflected (attributed biological routing to Leon). Ledger filed it, didn't push. Pathfinder seed #3.
- Ch05: Ledger's territory map — SW warrens, Brewer's Alley to old tannery district, 6-8 blocks. Three independent sources. Kae doesn't sleep same place twice.
- Ch05: Compact inquiries — two men (not Watch, possibly Compact) asking about Kae in warrens same morning. Head start on Phelan.
- Ch05: Three street contacts in escalating detail: (1) nut seller — practiced protective lie, door closed; (2) washing woman — protective lie + involuntary eye-flick southwest + "are you a healer?" (new data: Kae associated with medical need); (3) Drannick — confirmed chronic pain (congenital), named Elara as caretaker ("she helped"), described dependency oscillation, revealed Compact inquiries, referred Phelan to Carson ("the Reverend," Greywell Lane).
- Ch05: Elara first named by a street contact (Drannick). Doesn't know she's dead — only "gone." Confirms Ledger's dead woman = Elara.
- Ch05: Ledger's map — four new pins since Ch04 (two yellow, two red). Red migrated further northeast.
- Ch05: Guild hall — receptionist nods Phelan through without the waiting-list performance. Past the filter.
- Ch06: Same day as Ch05 (Day 5, Thursday equivalent). Phelan follows Drannick's referral directly to Greywell Lane.
- Ch06: Carson Johnsby introduced at chapel-workshop. 6'3", 280 lbs, gorilla hands, warm. Builder/fabricator, Church of the Ahole founder. Anti-Phelan observation (noise parenthetical): collects people vs. avoids them. Phelan genuinely likes him.
- Ch06: Carson confirms Kae intel: chronic pain (congenital), Elara was "the only person who ever made the pain manageable" (Carson never met her), disappearance made things worse. Last workshop visit: 10 days to 2 weeks ago (overdue). Deterioration visible: "wild, sometimes. Desperate."
- Ch06: Carson confirms two Compact men asked about Kae by name same morning — "too polite, trained to be polite." Got nothing from the warrens.
- Ch06: Carson identifies Hendrick Voss as Carter's Supplier 2 (metal fittings, two streets north). Church of the Ahole follower, fish fry regular. Carson will counter fabricated rumours through network credibility — 2-3 weeks. His word is "gold" in the warrens. Acknowledges his reach ends at the warrens boundary.
- Ch06: Apprentice boy (~12) in back corner delivers "So said the Right Reverend Carson!" catchphrase. Learning fabrication and theology simultaneously — "The fabrication is going better."
- Ch06: Territorial overlap noted — Kae's protector zone and Carter's supplier territory coincide in commercial warrens. "Convergence is more likely than coincidence."
- Ch06: Noise-leash used on walk home from warrens. "I pulled the leash. The noise resisted, then gave."
- Ch06: Devod's "protective non-investigation" idea crystallises Cass/Thorngate connection. Compliance officer reassigned to Thorngate — where Cass operates. "Not proof. Not yet. But the geography of institutional suppression is pointing in a direction that has a name."
- Ch06: Mere-Devod progression — Mere asked Devod practical question about apples. Stopped bristling during visit. More engagement than a month ago. Devod noticed.
- Ch06: Henwick's orchard, Thursday route — apples confirmed on Day 5 (Thursday equivalent). Consistent.
- Ch06: Evening processing — two-vector confirmation (Ledger + street investigation), Compact dual-inquiry, victim escalation. "The street king ruled nothing."
- Ch06: Leon reference — "Tomorrow was Leon's second day on Galden." Leon started Day 5 (Day 1 of 2).
- Ch07: Spans three days (Day 6-8). Scene 1-2 on Day 6 (Friday equiv.), Scene 3 on Day 7 (Saturday equiv.), Scene 4 on Day 8 (Godsday — one week after Ch01 Day 1).
- Ch07: Training at sixth bell Day 6. Thirteen seconds held (ugly but stable). Absorbing vs. correcting improvement ("almost gone"). Consistent with Ch02 ceiling.
- Ch07: Leon's Galden pursuit complete (Day 2 of 2). Financial trail: institutional money, Compact-level disbursement channels. Carter's three alternative suppliers delivered.
- Ch07: Victim death — merchants' quarter woman. Healer reported morning of Day 6. Case is now murder.
- Ch07: Ledger confirms Elara was a healer (unregistered, warrens). Still does NOT reveal guild informant status (Ch14).
- Ch07: Engineering analysis (Phelan + Ledger): Elara's removal guaranteed crystal dependency. Pre-meditated. "That's engineering."
- Ch07: Ledger probed about recruiting Leon. Phelan shut it down.
- Ch07: Mere told full picture Day 7 evening. Dependency-cycle insight: can't just remove crystal, must replace what it provides.
- Ch07: Fish fry Godsday (Day 8). Fourth bell start, Phelan arrived fifth bell. ~20 people.
- Ch07: Carson saw Kae Day 6 (two days before fish fry). Looking worse. Stopped bringing hypothetical questions.
- Ch07: Carson's puzzle piece: Kae's hypothetical dilemmas. "Do what's best for you." Kae sought permission, not acting without conscience. Guilt arc seeded.
- Ch07: Compact operatives returned Day 6. More pointed: location tracking, not general inquiry.
- Ch07: Noise-leash: "resisted, then settled." Slightly easier than Ch06.
- Ch07: Carter B-plot resolved — suppliers delivered, testing underway. Seeds studded jacket.
- Next chapter: Ch08 — The Compact Connection. Ledger's financial thread pays off. Trail leads to Cass.
- Ch08: Day 9 (Monday equivalent). One week + 1 day since Ch01 Day 1.
- Ch08: Fourteen seconds fire integration (up from thirteen in Ch07). Key change: absorbing through instability rather than correcting. "Sloppy at thirteen, but you absorbed through it instead of correcting. That's the change."
- Ch08: Soundstones introduced. Leon loans Phelan a paired stone from cave-diving kit. Walnut-sized, dark grey, opalescent sheen. Warm, heavier than it looks. Half-mile range open air, less through heavy stone. Voice like hearing someone from the next room.
- Ch08: Ledger standing when Phelan arrives (unusual — "Ledger sat. Ledger processed from behind a desk the way other people breathed"). Signals significance.
- Ch08: Financial trail — Compact disbursement channels, specifically discretionary fund attached to Thorngate administrative office. Combined with Leon's broker-side findings = Cass confirmed.
- Ch08: Elara revealed as guild informant — feeding intel on Cass's continued activities from Thorngate. "She went dark" — Ledger's framing. Went dark shortly before draining started. Guild suspected Cass discovered her role. This is the most Ledger has ever shared about guild operations with Phelan.
- Ch08: Ledger acknowledges holding back more: "There's more you're not telling me." "Yes." No deflection. "A down payment on future trust." Full truth reserved for Ch14 double reveal.
- Ch08: Phelan recognises Cass's voice — "the same clipped, administrative tone from when he offered me money to walk away from the Floundry case three months ago." Cadence recognised before words.
- Ch08: Misread correction — Ch05-07 operatives were NOT Compact damage control. They're Cass's personal field agents operating under Compact cover. "His people. Not the Compact's people. His."
- Ch08: Cass's operatives check watches every four minutes — synchronised countdown, not checking the time.
- Ch08: Earth magic vibration sensing — palm flat against building wall, awareness pushed into stone. Feels footsteps, movement, weight shifting. General movement only, not individual identification. Input side of earth brace (Book 1 Ch6).
- Ch08: Cass's plan — "Something more direct than supply chain pressure." Seeds Ch10 pivot to targeting Floundry witnesses.
- Ch08: Operative report-back schedule — two days (Day 11, Wednesday equivalent).
- Ch08: Leon stays in field after the split. Doesn't come home. Following operatives hoping the trail leads to Kae. "Go home, Phelan. Go tell Carter. I'll keep the stone warm."
- Ch08: Carter enters the conflict as conscious participant. "I'm not a bystander you're helping. I'm in this because a man tried to destroy my livelihood to hurt you, and now he's killing people."
- Ch08: Ledger warned about soundstone frequency overlap risk — if Cass's operatives use them too.
- Next chapter: Ch09 — First Contact. Leon finds Kae's location. Night of Day 9.
- Ch09: Same night as Ch08 (Day 9). Three hours after Phelan left Carter's shop. Leon found Kae's location by following ripples from operative contacts — "One of their contacts glanced at a building on the way out of a conversation."
- Ch09: Washing woman from Ch05 (early thirties, wiry, "Are you a healer?") confirmed as Kae's protector — sheltering him, giving him a cot. Her question was genuine need.
- Ch09: Paper ward on window — Crenshaw and Howell mass-produced, four seconds to break. Detection loop keyed to window opening, not touch. Phelan and Leon have broken "hundreds" of these.
- Ch09: Earth magic vibration sensing FAILS in packed residential building — too many people, heartbeats/movement create wall of ambient noise. Contrast with empty warehouse in Ch08 where it worked. Capability + limitation demonstrated in same pair of chapters.
- Ch09: Kae's physical description established: lean, taller than expected, dark blond hair (unkempt), green eyes (wide, unfocused during withdrawal). Carved snake pendant on frayed cord at throat.
- Ch09: Kae's combat profile established: no training, no telegraph. Crystal-enhanced strength (cracks plaster, room-length lunges). Unpredictable — can't read someone who doesn't know their own next move. Vulnerable to fire (acute thermal trauma registers).
- Ch09: Crystal drain firsthand: cognitive freeze → noise goes SILENT (first time ever) → loss of vitality → Flaw Sight involuntary flash → bracelet intercepts. Duration 3-4 seconds.
- Ch09: Flaw Sight flash fragments: lattice structure, biological routing, connection log (hundreds of impressions stamped with crystal's own signature as seal), two anchoring categories (operator/target), worn seal from overuse, pathways looping inward. Fragments locked away — noise will replay later. Seeds Ch18.
- Ch09: Bracelet at half power — new canon. Absorbed worst of drain, reservoir at ~50%. First depiction as depletable in a single event. Trickle-charge draw absent post-drain. Wrist red/irritated from white-hot flare.
- Ch09: Ring drained/cold — convergence architecture emptied during crystal drain. Will recover with rest.
- Ch09: Phelan's fire in combat reverted to brute-force (Leon-style volume, not precision threading). "Something I'd learned at thirteen in an alley behind a school." Irony: months of precision training, first real fight forces him back to primitive fire.
- Ch09: Leon's rescue: crashed through shutters, wall of fire (multiple simultaneous projections), Telessi sleeve cherry-red. Classic brute-force volume. Broke the drain.
- Ch09: Mere's post-combat care: clinical assessment (eyes, hands, posture, pulse, pupils), herbal preparation pre-made, warmed stone in bed. No drama, singular focus.
- Ch09: Leon and Mere at kitchen table post-chapter: filing tactical observations. Fire effectiveness confirmed. Kae's pain threshold data. "He was like a wounded animal, attacking wild for survival."
- Next chapter: Ch10 — The Pivot. Cass weaponises the chaos. Floundry witnesses targeted.
- Ch10: Bracelet auto-recharge confirmed broken (mechanism, not just depleted). Half power, no inlet. Mere flagged targeted expenditure — bracelet recognised attack signature. Architectural compatibility with Mallory crystal.
- Ch10: Tier Two promotion delivered by Ledger at Chandler's Row. 22 silvers/month, Archive access, intelligence priority, alias formalised. First Ledger house call.
- Ch10: Floundry victims — Calla drained canal market Day 9 morning (survived), Ned drained at home Day 9 ~second bell afternoon (touch and go). Targeted, sequential. Cass's "plan" from Ch08 was redirecting Kae at witnesses.
- Ch10: Leon's Stay or Bolt — stays. Transactional framing: "I know the crystal's signature better than anyone." Phelan sees through it. Neither acknowledges the real reason (guilt).
- Ch10: Devod's wagon idea — "If it won't pull, maybe you can push." Seeds manual bracelet recharge. Untested.
- Next chapter: Ch11 — Thresholds. Mere-focused chapter, Day 10 evening.
- Ch11: Same evening as Ch10 (Day 10). Leon departs ~tenth bell. Devod stays behind with Thresholds business records.
- Ch11: Thresholds partnership documents — joint ownership, equal shares, no transfer clause. Dated seventeen years ago. Two signatures (Devod + Charlette). Charlette told Mere she bought Devod out — lied. Deed never transferred.
- Ch11: Payment records — 3 silvers/month FROM Devod TO Charlette, first of month, four years. ~144 silvers total on ~8-9 silver/month income. Stopped month Mere turned sixteen. Not child support — extortion for proximity.
- Ch11: Charlette's ultimatum — Mere at twelve, winter, no gloves, Devod bought three pairs. Charlette framed it as "undermining her." Threatened to take Mere and disappear. Devod stopped visits. Charlette then demanded payment when she learned he stayed in Drenwick.
- Ch11: Devod's composure shift — calmer, more controlled during ultimatum truth. Fourth inconsistent observation (after: Book 1 walking stick, Millford Street parcels, cart to mine). Filed as unexplained data. NO Pathfinder/Wolf references. Seeds Ch15.
- Ch11: Mere reclassifies Charlette ("She used access to her daughter as a financial instrument" — closed account) and Devod (model inverted — he didn't leave, he was forced out).
- Ch11: Mere shelves Thresholds fight for the case — character growth, choosing delay over immediate action. Papers stay on table.
- Ch11: "Come by tomorrow, Dad." — first use of "Dad" in twelve years. Replaced "Devod" (clinical distance name). Devod's controlled exit.
- Ch11: Bracelet state — dim, half-charged. Consistent with Ch09-10 (crystal drain, auto-recharge broken).
- Ch11: Devod's tell (hands stop) — used three times. Consistent with prior canon (Millford Street, cart to mine).
- Ch11: Six noise parentheticals. Observer mode — Phelan peripheral, processing. All earned.
- Next chapter: Ch12 — Devod. Cass points Kae at Devod Fields. Life-threatening draining. Carter delivers studded jacket. Ledger crisis response.
- Ch12: Day 11 (Wednesday equivalent). Four scenes: training/charge, jacket, quiet, news/rush.
- Ch12: Fire training — fifteen seconds integrated (up from fourteen in Ch08). Ugly, unstable, holding. Absorbing through instability continues.
- Ch12: Bracelet manual charge — Leon suggests, both land on "no reason not to try." Push-charge: conscious energy feed, dedicated concentration thread. Mill sluice analogy. ~50% → ~70%. Stone dim amber → warm amber-red. Costs manageable effort. Can specify amount (sluice gate to exact height).
- Ch12: Carter's studded jacket delivered. Ore studs from Velken's Drift (Book 1 Ch21) at hem/cuffs/collar. ~20% passive magical absorption + impact-response leather (ore field bleeds ~half inch into material, non-Newtonian — soft normally, rigid on fast/hard impact). One system, two effects. Last adjustment after Leon told Carter about Ch09 Kae fight.
- Ch12: Devod attacked overnight Day 10/11. Found by tanner mid-morning. Draining signature matches all prior victims. Life-threatening: aged, diminished, barely breathing, hair fully grey, skin slack.
- Ch12: Devod's routines established: opens back window for cats, moves wagon to side lot before seventh bell. Daily, same time. Knock at Chandler's Row: two-pause-one.
- Ch12: Mere's emergency response: composure holds ~3 seconds, transforms to clinical fury. Herbal satchel (pre-packed, reinforced pockets). Walk to Millford Street in 8 minutes (normally 12). Assessment: pulse (wrist then throat), eyelid responsiveness, temple reading. Herbal stabilization: sharp/medicinal, applied to temples/wrists/pulse points. 40 minutes to "stable."
- Ch12: Ledger crisis response: Tried Chandler's Row first, closed open door. Guild protocol (Tier Two family member attacked). Assessed damage with too-specific clinical knowledge (Pathfinder seed). Half-second pause on "Devod Fields" name (Pathfinder reputation knowledge seed). Provided: guild safe house, medical contacts (healer, life-force depletion, discreet), security assessment. Used "Locksmith" alias. 10 minutes total.
- Ch12: Pathfinder seed #4 (Ledger's field assessment precision) and #5 (Devod-name recognition). Neither stated, both observable.
- Ch12: Phelan's noise: 10 parentheticals. Observational in scenes 1-2 (5), clipped dread in scene 3 (2), tactical/emotional cluster in scene 4 closing (3).
- Ch12: Cass's operatives report-back was due Day 11 (Ch08) — NOT addressed in Ch12. Available for Ch13+.
- Next chapter: Ch13 — The Weight of It. Aftermath. Incompatible grief responses. Leon's guilt sharpens (crystal → Devod). Team pushback on killing Kae.
