The window in his office had stayed shut through the whole winter. This morning someone had left it cracked open. Probably Aestrith, or perhaps the season had decided for itself that the room no longer needed to be sealed against the cold.
The air drifting through was still cool, but it was not the icy breeze from before.
The stack of reports on his desk had grown throughout the winter. Heinrich's routine had never changed, reports waited and mornings remained reserved for decisions rather than briefings.
Beorn set open the ledger and began working through the stack in order.
Industrial first. Construction second. Agriculture after that. Then the army. The accounts always came last, because they measured the true cost of everything that came before.
The industrial district had divided itself into three quarters.
