77. The Director of Glasswood

The Director was waiting inside what had once been an abandoned logging station.

Carlos expected someone surrounded by guards, sitting behind a large desk and acting as if the Glasswood Basin already belonged to them.

Instead, Mara Kells was standing beside a long worktable with three other Lords. One counted stacks of transparent bark. Another wrote numbers on a board. The third argued about whether the group guarding the northern trees should receive the same contribution as the group cutting them.

Mara did not look up at Carlos immediately.

"The guards kept people alive," the northern Lord said.

"But they also did not carry the wood back, the people did" the other one answered.

Mara tapped the table once and both stopped.

"Split the difference for today," she said. "Tomorrow, we count guard hours separately. If anyone dislikes it, leave with what the agreement says is yours."