Dorin Nel opens the mill’s joint scale slips and the accord’s water-use clause at the shared flour table at the north border mill. Before anyone moves a cart or changes a mark, the crew checks a marked stone channel that feeds the mill only during the agreed hours. The thaw season air brings its own pace to the passage.
The latest page holds 62 mill turns recorded under the shared water allotment. Dorin Nel reads the previous count (64) 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 accord assigns turns by season; both delegations say the other has carried forward last season’s exception as a rule. 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.
Residents and workers have had their first chance to question the measure in public. The entry belongs to the late-season check file at the shared flour table at the north border mill. 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 joint table will publish the turn schedule with every exception dated. Until then, the route, schedule or allotment stays as it was at the opening bell.
