Marrick returned the first heat-resistant collar before the forge cooled, carrying it with a work roster folded beneath his ledger strap. The collar had held through four bellows cycles, leaving Ferra free to turn the remaining charcoal toward the mine-road order.
Hajin kept one Ring around his right wrist as he stood beside the furnace, moving Aegis whenever a worker crossed the heat line.
"Your shift ended an hour ago," Marrick raised the roster toward him, "so either leave or let me record another wage."
"It is my forge," Hajin moved the barrier around a pair of workers carrying iron bars, "paying me from my treasury would waste ink."
"Then I will record the hours without coin," Marrick opened the ledger against a crate, "the safety page needs every person who worked near the basin."
Ferra drew an iron bar from the furnace, setting it across the anvil before pointing toward the bellows.
