The Collector dragged its tail and legs through the opening while night lamps shook above the orchard's twelve marked sectors. Its talons punched through the paving into roots that bent beneath a weight pouring in past the turning black beacon.
"Oh, come on, you brought the whole damn thing?" Hajin hissed, planting the Chain between its reaching hands and Didi, Vella's sample tucked behind his left shoulder.
Eirwen checked the departure board, then drove another marker beneath the nearest silverwood's exposed root beside the pavilion.
"Collection failure unresolved," the Collector said, turning its smile toward Didi while its beacon held the route open behind it.
"Royal blood recovered with accumulated penalty, regional refusal does not discharge the throne's registered debt."
"Registered debt, huh?" He stepped forward until any reaching claw would need to pass his guard first.
"Then it stays across that opening with you, you overgrown tax ledger," he snarled.
