Marda Thenn opens the kiln-duty roll and its exemption slips at the Upper Chamber of Measures. Before anyone moves a cart or changes a mark, the crew checks a pair of soot-darkened brass weights used to compare household allotments. The deep winter air brings its own pace to the passage.
The latest page holds 35 hearth entries. Marda Thenn reads the previous count (37) before the next mark is made. It is a small pause, long enough for the people at the rail to hear what the number leaves out.
The levy is assessed by furnace capacity, while small workshops say capacity does not show how many hours a kiln actually runs. The current record does not settle that disagreement. The difference between those accounts is visible here: a rule on the board and a working condition just beyond it.
The first implementation notes have been compared with the promise in the minutes. The entry belongs to the annual return file at the Upper Chamber of Measures. The next check will be made by another crew, asked to repeat the measure without borrowing the first crew’s conclusion.
When the shift closes, the file remains beside the marked place. The chamber’s committee must publish a revised rate table before the next firing season. Until then, the route, schedule or allotment stays as it was at the opening bell.
