By dawn, three supply wagons waited outside the registry with their tarps still tied down, the drivers standing beside their animals instead of unloading anything.
Hajin saw the problem from the registry roof while Ash slept against his chest, one hand tangled in his coat as the forge crews fed charcoal into Ferra's pit.
Marrick came up the roof stairs clutching a message tube against his ribs, "the southern wagons came back, they reached the Flint road post, then the captain stamped every permit and sent them home."
Hajin took the papers, finding three cargo passes marked with the same red seal across the center.
{Cargo restricted under emergency regional quarantine authority. Passage denied pending capital review.}
"What were they carrying?" He read the seal again while Ash shifted against his collar.
"Mostly refined coal, with the kiln brick and nails Ferra requested," Marrick rubbed ink from his thumb, "Seliza's people paid before the Flint riders stopped the wagons."
