Calder called them back to the courtyard on the ninth day.
The settlement seemed to know before they did.
People gathered along the edges of the square without crowding it, leaving the centre open. Children were pulled gently out of the way. Work slowed. Conversations thinned into the same quiet attentiveness Vane had learned to recognize as Ossaran anticipation.
Calder gave no speech.
Vane had half expected one, much as he had once expected Ryuken to make ceremony out of anything that mattered. Instead, Calder stood before them with six lengths of plain cord folded across his palms.
He handed the first to Ashe.
Then Valerica, Isole, Nyx, Mara.
Vane received his last.
The cord was rough, unmarked, and lighter than the moment made it feel.
"Provisional," Isole translated.
Calder continued, pausing whenever she needed time to follow.
"Not full Standing. He says no one earns that in nine days."
A faint dryness entered her voice.
