Lera Kott took twenty seven burial hooks from the council drawer and hung them above the keep rail.
Each hook belonged to somebody killed on the midpoint bridge before Vask fixed its change cage. Lera had copied twelve names herself. The oldest hook carried a belt number worn smooth and a bend from the cart that landed on its owner.
Residents entered from both roadbacks with their boots holding to opposing galleries around the open midpoint, each bridge belt carrying one brass ring stamped with a district address.
Keep Vask used the rail bolted to the fixed gallery. Surrender him used the rail that turned with the city.
Lera stood between them in the clerk cage and tested both scales with her body weight.
An Account Five runner reached the cage before the first resident. He set a cloth bag on the shelf, and rings settled against one another inside it.
"Provider workers cannot leave the lower dock, so Vask sends their rings through me."
