Henteria Chronicles Ch. 3 - - The Peacekeepers -u... [better]

Hearing, arbitration, the even-handed words appealed to a part of Lysa that had grown up on stories—of lawgivers who could carve peace out of the marrow of disputes. But even as the words entered her mind, something else stirred: a memory of smoke smell in the throat, of ships burned to the waterline, of docks emptied overnight because a captain had refused to pay a claim and been set by other captains as an example. The Peacekeepers might bring peace, or they might bring a new set of rules that left little room for small merchants with sticky fingers.

Into this storm stepped Mara, Halvar, and Lysa. They did not have armies. They had instead a different currency: proof. The letter and the chest were evidence that the plan had been hatched before the demonstration. They had witnesses who had been paid to carry crates and men who would name the coin used to finance them. They demanded transparency and the right for New Iros to choose its own counsel. Henteria Chronicles Ch. 3 - The Peacekeepers -U...

The man's eyes, a steady gray, slid toward the harbor, toward the long pier where the merchant guilds had holed up. "A matter of salvage rights and the seizure of wares bound for neutral ports," he said. "It concerns the vessel Teynora and cargo manifest 42-K." He hesitated as if the manifest number was supposed to mean something to everyone. "There are claims by the Fishermen's Collective that unauthorized seizure occurred. There are counterclaims by the Silver Strand Trading Line that the Teynora carried illegal contraband. The Coalition mediates trade conflicts so that the ports may remain open." Hearing, arbitration, the even-handed words appealed to a