The board's refusal left Doran Vesk inside the ladder without any obligation to fight well in it. A man can stand in a ring for ninety seconds, take a loss, then walk out with his licence still in his coat.
Vesk held the market weighing licence for the whole east district, which set the certified mass of every beast core sold there. He had held it nine years, while his rank of one hundred and seventy went untested by anybody with a reason to test it.
"He will throw the bout," Yenna said at the workshop, with the filing still open on her slate, "and a thrown bout transfers nothing at all."
Vell read the clause she meant three times before he answered her. An office moved only on a decision the board recorded as contested, and contested had a definition written by people who never expected a scavenger to read it.
"Then I do not fight him," he said.
