The Last Unopened Gate
The tidekeeper ordered a precautionary evacuation before the next unscheduled opening upstream.
What happened
Qirarden moved people above the old flood mark while Athelarden continued investigating the clocks. Neither side had declared the other responsible. The empty lower streets gave negotiators a visible deadline: whatever the source of the water, a town had to decide where its inhabitants would sleep tonight.
Where to look
The event is anchored at Highby. Related witnesses and institutions appear in the connections rather than being treated as a detached chronology.
Neris receives foreign captains in a warehouse whose doors remain open during council meetings.
Rovan practices capsizing an empty boat so his crews learn what rescue feels like from the water.
Mara still brings a ferry stool to the Assembly, making the office appear humbler than the influence behind it.
Independent listeners heard a child asking to go home inside the fortress cedar.
Surveyors found warm water beneath old ice and collected the jar now examined in Garnetrun.
The first Assembly met outside the locked grain hall and declared Athelarden a free state.