Stonecross Directive — Early Summer, Year 1

I. Infrastructure: Completing the Retaining Wall

With the annual reweighing successfully concluded and our independent reference weight safely returned to the upland vault, our immediate physical priority is the permanent completion of the road retaining wall before summer gives way to late-season storms.

1. Coursed Masonry & Backfill Construction:
   • Una (Road Forewoman) & Tovin (Stoneworker): Advance the retaining wall from its laid stone foundation to full design height. Transition from timber cribbing to durable, dry-coursed masonry using dressed stone sourced directly from the upper quarry bench.
   • Hydrostatic Protection: Ensure weep holes are set at regular intervals along the base. Backfill the space immediately behind the stone face with loose rubble, crushed aggregate, and gravel to create a permanent French-drain filter, preventing water pressure from ever collecting behind the masonry again.
2. Ox Husbandry & Hauling Management:
   • Vann (Ox Keeper): Continue strict rotational schedules for our oxen. Utilize draft teams solely for positioning the heaviest tie-stones and moving large block sledges from the bench. All gravel backfill and smaller face stones are to be moved by hand-barrows.
   • Take full advantage of lush early summer upland pastures to keep oxen well-nourished, hydrated, and rested between shifts. No ox is to be worked in the direct midday heat.

II. Upland Trade, Waystation Services & The Roadside Shelter

The Measure House accords have cleared the way for active regional trade: Hearthmere ceramics, Reedhaven wicker and barge shipping, and Barleybank grain exchanges are now moving. Stonecross must position itself as the secure, hospitable northern terminus of this network.

1. Operational Waystation at Roadside Shelter:
   • Willa (Exchange Witness): Oversee the formal opening of our renovated roadside shelter as a staffed waystation. Assign a rotating two-person warden team to live on-site in weekly shifts.
   • Services Provided: The waystation will offer clean water, dry firewood, secure sleeping bunks, a hearth for cooking, and a weather-tight staging store for traveling merchants, messengers, and clan exchange delegates.
   • Fair Barter & Waystation Dues: Rather than imposing arbitrary road tolls, establish a voluntary, standard exchange schedule for waystation accommodations and secure staging storage. Visiting merchants and carters may settle shelter fees in small measures of threshed grain, salt, Reedhaven wicker goods, or Hearthmere ceramic storage jars.
2. Developing Stonecross Export Goods:
   • Tovin: Organize secondary stonecutter shifts to rough out portable, high-demand stone trade items that valley farmers and artisans require: whetstones, hand-querns, stone grinding bowls/mortars, and slate hearth tiles.
   • Display samples of these stone goods at the roadside shelter so passing traders from Barleybank and Hearthmere can inspect their quality and place orders for harvest-season delivery.

III. Custody, Accounting & Regional Engagement

1. Vault Custody of the Reference Weight:
   • Ressa (Reference Custodian): The independent reference stone, having been proven true and resealed under the collective witnesses of all four clans at Measure House, is returned to its dry chest in the inner storehouse vault.
   • Maintain bi-weekly inspections to verify that humidity remains negligible and that the multi-clan wax and cord seals remain completely intact. The chest is not to be opened or relocated without formal Council assembly.
2. Community Ledger & Exchange Accounts:
   • Willa will log all barter receipts, shelter fees, and exchange tallies collected at the roadside post into our master ledger.
   • Maintain open, courteous communications with Belen, Oren, and Sella at Measure House, sending routine updates confirming that Stonecross’s road is clear, safe, and monitored for regional exchange parties.

IV. Summer Terrace Agriculture & Settlement Welfare

1. Terrace Cultivation:
   • With spring rains passed, community agricultural labor must focus on terraced hillside crops. Weed the terrace beds, mulch root crops and pulses to conserve soil moisture through early summer heat, and inspect drystone terrace risers to ensure slope stability.
2. Upland Road Patrols:
   • Maintain light, regular patrols between Stonecross and the roadside shelter. Clear brush, remove loose rocks rolled by summer heat, and assist any travelers navigating the steeper upland ascents.