The exception returned quietly.
It was not called that.
The problem began with stone.
The southern quarter needed more of it. The earlier repairs had held only because weight had been shifted elsewhere. Timber bracing remained in place longer than intended. Cracks widened by small degrees each day.
Nothing urgent was reported.
Urgency invited questions.
A request was filed instead.
It followed the clarified process.It included measurements.It cited earlier approvals.
It waited.
By the third day, the request had not moved.
The wall continued to settle.
Not visibly.Not dramatically.
Enough to be felt by those who worked near it.
The mason returned to the depot with updated figures.
"The weight's wrong," he said, tapping the page. "We need the stone now."
The clerk read the numbers carefully.
"This route is restricted," he said.
"It was allowed before."
"That was before," the clerk replied, without emphasis.
The mason stood there a moment longer than was necessary.
Then he lowered his voice.
"There's precedent."
The clerk looked up.
"Where?" he asked.
The mason hesitated.
"At the northern gate," he said. "For the carriage."
The clerk did not answer.
That afternoon, the request reappeared.
It had been altered.
Not rewritten.Adjusted.
The phrasing now referenced established handling under constrained conditions.
No names were attached.
The clerk compared it to the older entry.
The words were different.
The shape was the same.
He copied the notation.
Previously recorded handling.
The rope was unhooked.
The carts passed through before dusk.
Four of them. Heavily loaded. Slow-moving.
Guards watched without comment.
The barrier was lowered again once the last wheel cleared the marker.
No notice was posted.
No report was filed.
The records remained clean.
That night, rain fell again.
The added weight of stone pressed unevenly against ground already strained.
A section of the southern wall shifted.
Not enough to fall.
Enough to crack the bracing.
By morning, the damage was visible.
The timber had split.
Stone had moved where it should not have.
No injuries were recorded.
That mattered.
A report was written.
It cited weather.It cited age.It cited material stress.
It did not mention the route.
He read the summary in passing and placed it with the others.
The ground beneath his feet was still.
Silent.
The exception had worked.
That was how it was recorded.