~Kaida Orion POV~
Biat fetched the marriage tablets for our year, one by one he laid them on the low table, the original union, the winter sickness vow, the spring fertility prayer, and the tenth-year reaffirmation. Each had twin signatures, pack seal, witness scratch marks.
Nothing was missing. Moon Priest lifted an almost-forgotten thin tablet from the bottom...a narrow strip I had never seen. No seal, just lines, empty, except for two faint cut grooves near the top.
"What is that?" I asked.
Rachael leaned in. "A promise space, for the Fourteenth projection, families used to carve future intention and then fill with blessing phrases when the anniversary came, but most stopped using these. Too painful when pairs failed."
The blank grooves seemed to look back at me like open eyes.
"Was ours filed blank?" Lupus asked.
Biat turned it over and stiffened. "There is a second side."
