Elmyard
A republican capital whose public irrigation clocks can topple a government.
Elmyard spreads between communal orchards and the raised channels that keep them warm. Assembly seats are wooden stools brought from each district; an absent representative leaves an unmistakable gap. Mara Tern still keeps her ferry stool, smaller than the others.
During the Gatekeepers Strike, citizens took turns sleeping beside the public water clocks to prevent tampering. The clocks now lose eleven minutes at dusk. Upstream engineers blame wear, but children measuring shadows insist the loss happens before the mechanism moves. Elmyard may be spending time as well as heat.
Southern farmers who won a republic and inherited a failing source of warmth.
The first Assembly met outside the locked grain hall and declared Athelarden a free state.
Mara still brings a ferry stool to the Assembly, making the office appear humbler than the influence behind it.
Jori inspects channels from a narrow punt with a measuring pole worn smooth at the grip.
Oldren carried grain barons for pay and hunger strikers without it.
Anet grafts plum branches and keeps a diary of flowering dates beside the family’s political arguments.