Marrick brought Eirwen the manor keys before noon as if a finished estate were the natural shape of foreign respect and placed the iron ring on the registry desk.
It rested between the posted gate rates and Hajin’s civil seal book. Hajin watched from the side bench and thought, ’He means well, but he still thinks importance needs a larger roof.’
Marrick slid the keys a careful inch closer to Eirwen and said, "The eastern manor has repaired rooms, a separate yard, and space for staff, so it would place the Alder embassy inside a house equal to your rank."
Eirwen left the keys untouched, glanced at the manor map, and said, "My rank does not require your spare palace, because an embassy that takes the largest empty house teaches the wrong lesson."
Juna folded her arms and said, "She is not wrong, because people already watch where the elf sleeps, and the Sixth’s manor is larger than most mining homes."
Ferra snorted from the doorway with forge heat still on her clothes and said, "If she takes the manor, half the town will decide Alder law outranks mine safety notices, so put her somewhere that pays our carpenters."
Eirwen turned from the keys toward the window facing the registry lane while a repaired house stood two doors down.
Its roof had been patched after the Flint war, its shutters were plain, plus its front step was worn by clerks and patients using it as a shortcut landmark.
Eirwen pointed with two fingers and said, "That one beside the registry, near for treaty work and plain enough that no one mistakes it for conquest."
Marrick looked pained in the exact way of a man whose tidy hierarchy had been refused and said, "It needs floor work, a stronger door, and a second writing room, while the manor would spare that labor."
Eirwen opened her own purse ledger and answered, "Labor hired at your posted rates is part of the point, because I will not live on donated grandeur while your clinic still buys timber by the week."
Hajin stayed quiet until both looked toward him for a lord’s tie-break while he had no intention of giving one.
Hajin said, "She chooses the house, and you choose the contract language that keeps it hers under Alder funding."
[GrandmaViewer: elf turned down the manor, instantly more trustworthy]
[RationalSkeptic7: correct, soft power dies when you take the biggest roof]
Eirwen walked the short lane with Marrick, Hajin, and two registry clerks while local workers waited near the repaired house.
Word of embassy coin traveled faster than formal notices while Eirwen read the posted day rates nailed beside the registry door and matched them line for line in her offer book.
She did not ask for a foreign discount. Eirwen turned to the foreman and said, "Carpenters, roofers, and one locksmith, with embassy pay at the same numbers your lord posts for civil repair and no private side bargains."
The foreman blinked, then grinned with the relief of wages instead of ceremony. He tapped the cracked frame and said, "We can start on the door today, with the writing room by week’s end if the timber lot stays honest."
Hans had followed to hear the rate match and answered, "It will, because I like foreigners who read the board."
Lana recorded the hire list for witness purposes without placing any Witness Brand while the labor contract remained a contract rather than a crime scene.
Ash climbed the low front step and tested the porch rail with both hands before looking back at Eirwen.
Ash asked, "House?"
Eirwen crouched to his height without treating him as decoration and said, "Embassy, a place for my people’s work, not a claim on your home."
Ash nodded as if the distinction mattered while the main room smelled of old dust and newer patch plaster.
Rumi checked the rear exit route by touch as Nari checked the street-facing shutters, leaving them open while Vella’s runner found them before the inspection finished.
The runner reported that the child had watched them leave from the unlocked doorway and returned to Loccy’s coat once she saw Hajin still in sight down the lane.
Eirwen set her treaty case on the bare table and drew out two seals, Alder silverwood plus the temporary embassy stamp authorized for the Sixth.
Marrick placed Hajin’s civil seal book opposite hers, open to the page for foreign offices, and said, "Standard order puts a Great Court mark above local civil authority unless a visiting office requests otherwise in writing."
Eirwen answered without looking at Hajin for permission, "I request otherwise, so place my treaty seal below his civil seal on every shared notice, because this town is not Alder ground."
Hajin felt the Stream lean in and ignored the temptation to make the choice sound romantic. He thought, ’She is building a border that can be left, not a second throne in my registry.’
[Loccy_Defense_Squad: seal under his, not above, that is actual respect]
[CringeSlayer91: husband title earlier, subordinate seal now, brain melting in a good way]
[ashley (Mod): keep comments on the seals and contracts shown]
The wax set in a clean oval under both marks while clerks copied the stacked order for both gates.
Hajin’s civil seal appeared first, the Alder embassy treaty seal rested beneath it, and the funding line marked embassy purse rather than Sixth treasury.
Ferra ran a hand along the doorframe and marked where the locksmith should reinforce against ordinary thieves rather than divine avatars.
She turned to the foreman and said, "I will forge the hinges if your lot botches them, at the same posted metal rate, with no special elf price."
The foreman answered, "Accepted, and I will start with measurements before you have to threaten the door."
Juna lingered at the window to judge sight lines toward the clinic. She said, "If someone comes for her through this door, I want a clear cut down the lane."
Eirwen replied, "Then you will have one after the workers finish, not by clearing residents for my comfort."
Marrick returned the manor keys to their hook with relief under the paperwork pain and said, "Embassy house recorded, Alder funded, locally hired, seal order as requested, and petitions for the manor will be denied."
Eirwen answered, "Do that, because the house beside the registry serves the agreement better."
She looked at Hajin across the empty table and used the title once as fact rather than a claim on the room.
Eirwen said, "Husband, I will learn this home from a house beside it, not from above it."
Hajin replied, "That is the correct distance, and it keeps your embassy visible without making it part of my household."
Outside, hammers started on the door at the posted rate while the manor windows stayed dark and unclaimed across the yard.
Aria logged the embassy address against the Sixth’s civil map without elevating it to household membership. She said in Hajin’s thoughts, "Alder embassy, adjacent registry house, independently funded, with no change to Bloodline, summon, or lordship registers."
Hajin thought, ’Keep it that way, because an ally with a door of her own is safer than a guest trapped in mine.’
Marrick posted the embassy hours beside the gate rates before the first hinge pin went in, so no petitioner could claim ignorance of where Alder business began and Sixth business ended.
The first room remained plain, but the contract made its limits clear. Workers would be paid locally, the embassy would fund its own repairs, and the treaty seal would not outrank civil authority in shared notices.
Eirwen kept the manor keys on the registry desk until Marrick returned them to the hook. She did not need a larger roof to make the embassy legible.
Hajin left the workers to their measurements while Ash remained near the porch rail and the house became an office by negotiated terms before it became a residence.
The repair contract stayed beside the seal book, with labor rates, funding source, and authority order visible to every clerk who handled the next notice.
Eirwen’s first embassy day ended with a plain address, a locally funded door, and a treaty seal that knew exactly where its authority stopped.