The trademark register

Dorga gathers the market council in a windowless room. There were two guards, three merchants and a svirfneblin in charge of keeping records. The copy of the fake plate was placed in the center, next to the notebook of the man in the gray coat.

He had given a name: Othar Vell. Dorga didn't know if it was true. She had checked the old registers of the market and found three transactions signed with that name, spread over eight years. None concerned the roads of Veyr.

"He may have used several names," says Zaelyra.

"Or he really did these exchanges," replied the keeper of the registers.

"Both can be true."

Othar had stayed in the courtyard. He had agreed not to leave until the council had finished examining the plates, provided that he was not retained without cause. Dorga respected this condition. She did not want to prove her guilt by taking away a freedom that she herself said she protected.

The false mark had been struck with a coarse punch. On the edge, however, appeared a small angle identical to that of the fragment found in the Salines pipeline. Nym compared the two pieces. The angle could come from a tool from the same workshop, but the copper of the plate was of another composition.

"It's not the same punch," he says. "But the tools could be copied."

"Does this connect man to falsification?" asked Dorga.

"No."

The keeper of the registers opened her big book to a page marked by a strip of leather. Several plate orders had been made for travelers without a fixed community. The quantities remained modest. An order had been paid for in copper pieces from the low forges.

Kethra recognized the symbol on the edge of the invoice. "This one appears on transactions where Bregan D’aerthe serves as an intermediary."

"Can you prove that Bregan used it? Zaelyra asked.

"I can prove that affiliated brokers used it. Not that the organization gave the order."

Dorga leaned against the table. "Then we won't write it as an accusation."

"Write it as a clue," says Kethra. "With my name as the source."

The caretaker noted the exact sentence, then read it aloud. Kethra confirmed. She did not ask for the entry to be removed if it turned out to be false.

Othar was called. He examined the plate, then the pages of the register.

"I didn't sell this brand," he says.

"Did you sell road maps? Zaelyra asked.

"Yes."

" Passages?"

"No."

"Did you give the names of the travelers who bought them?"

"I wrote down the names they gave me."

"Why?"

"To find out who had paid."

"What if the name was wrong?"

"So I lost my money."

"Not them?"

Othar looked at her. "I was selling information. Not people's lives."

Kethra had a brief laugh, without amusement. "You said the same thing to Veyr."

The man turned to her. "I've never met you."

"You told me about a copper loop, repaired twice, and a woman who had to join me at the forges."

"A lot of people have curls."

"The second weld was crooked."

"It's a bad repair."

"It was made by Saira."

Othar did not answer. Zaelyra observed his face. He hadn't jumped, but his gaze had fixed on the loop that Kethra had just released.

"Did you know Saira? Zaelyra asked.

"I know several people by that name."

"Did you meet one in the Salines?"

"Maybe."

"Do you know where she is?"

"No."

"Did you have him looked for?"

"No."

"Why did you talk about the loop?"

Othar inhaled slowly. "Because I wanted to know if Kethra would recognize the description."

"Did you know she would travel with us?"

"No. I heard his name in Veyr."

"From whom?"

"Of a man who paid me to check if she was still wearing the buckle."

Kethra froze. "Who?"

"I don't have his name."

"The Watchman?"

"This is the name he gave."

"And you, did you accept it? Zaelyra asked.

"I didn't believe it. I accepted the money."

The council was silent. Othar had just repeated Kethra's words, almost identical. This did not prove that he was the man she was looking for, but the coincidence was too precise to be ignored.

"You sold the road to Veyr? Zaelyra asked.

"No. I sold an answer: Kethra always wore the buckle."

"And did you know it could put her in danger?"

"I knew we were looking for her. I didn't know why."

"You could have refused."

"Yes."

"You could have warned him."

"Yes."

"Why didn't you do it?"

"I needed the money."

The sentence did not make him less guilty. It only made it easier to understand.

Kethra remained standing, the buckle tight in her hand. "Did you tell the Watchman that I was leaving with Zaelyra?"

"No."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. I didn't know Zaelyra before Veyr."

"It doesn't prove that he didn't learn the rest differently."

"No."

Dorga ordered that Othar remain in the market as long as the other positions check his transactions. She did not put him in detention. He would temporarily lose his right to sell maps, not his right to travel.

"You let him go?" asked Kethra.

"We let him choose where to wait," Dorga replied. "If he leaves, we will note that he did not want to answer."

"What if he is guilty?"

"So his departure will not erase him from our records."

Kethra didn't like the answer. However, she could not ask that the market retain a man without additional evidence, not after demanding that the roads remain open to those who did not have a name.

Othar left the room. He stopped near Kethra.

"If I learn something about Saira, I will let you know."

"To whom?"

He had no answer.

"Then don't promise," she says.

He lowered his head. "Okay."

Dorga authorized the group to continue until the next relay, under the guidance of a guide named Ysil. The market would keep a partial copy of their map and transmit to Ressa the information on the falsified plate. Zaelyra asked that the report specify what remained unknown.

"It will take more pages to write what you don't know than to write what you know," remarked the caretaker.

"Maybe it's normal."

Dorga sealed the register. "This is especially the price of not lying."