---
"Twenty people couldn't scrub it in a day," he said, not in complaint, just in fact. "How can I do it alone in four days?"
"You will find out," Warden Lutch said. Her tone had a stone in it now. "Or you may take a different weight: expulsion for a semester. You will leave the grounds by sunset today and re-apply in spring. Those are the choices. Clean the room. Or carry shame for a term."
John's jaw tightened. He breathed once. "I will clean the room."
"Outside help is barred," she said, each word a step. "No classmates. No hired hands. No friendly cleaners who 'just happened' to be passing with brooms. You may use your contracted spirit. That is your only aid. And while you work at night, you also keep the door, you keep the ledger, you keep the rules. No one goes in without a slip. No shortcuts out the back."
John nodded. "Understood."
"If you fail to clean the ruler. There are point penalties." She said to John.
