The first session opened under a colorless sky.
The ruling voices took their places inside the ring of standing stones. No thrones. No raised platforms. Only the old order of speaking: the hosting elder recognized each territory in turn, and the claim or challenge was heard without interruption until the speaker finished.
Mads Ravn did not wait for the order to soften him.
When Blackridge was recognized he stepped forward and put the challenge on the floor in plain language. The high meadows claimed by Thorne's southern territory had no standing in any prior Moot recognition.
The ground had been used by Blackridge shepherds in hard seasons for longer than the outpost had existed as a settlement.
Until the claim was proven by continuous, uncontested holding and by formal acceptance of the gathered packs, Blackridge would treat the marks as temporary and the territory as open.
