“Then your silk will be gone in five years,” Kael said. Not cruelly. Just as fact.
It is only blocked by fear.
Kael looked up from his microscope. “If your grandmother finds out, she’ll have you weaving burial shrouds.” silk unblocked
That night, Lina did not sleep. She sat in the mulberry orchard, watching the moon rise over the empty looms. She thought about her grandmother’s hands—steady, wise, but closed into fists. She thought about the word unblocked . Water, when blocked, stagnates. Silk, when blocked, suffocates.
And fear, unlike silk, has no strength at all. “Then your silk will be gone in five years,” Kael said
The Matron rose. For a long moment, she said nothing. Then she walked to the shelf where the original charter was kept—the one that said “The silk shall never be given to outside hands.” She lifted it, paused, and placed it in the fire.
“Show us the diagrams,” she said. Her voice cracked, just once. “And someone go fetch that botanist. If we’re going to save this village, we’ll need all the help we can get.” It is only blocked by fear
“I broke the law,” Lina said.