The Aldara came alongside Quay Seven at twenty minutes past seven on Thursday morning, her hull streaked with salt and her crew of fourteen looking like men who had earned their wages twice over. She had left Port Thessara on 16 February — twenty days ago, rather than the eight her original Kaelmar route would have required — and had rounded the Cape of Sarenne in weather that her master, Captain Willem Oort, described with the economical understatement of a man who has seen worse but would rather not again.

“We had four days of heavy seas south of the Cape,” Oort told reporters on the quayside. “The cargo is intact. The crew is tired. We would like very much to not do that again.”

The Aldara carries mixed eastern goods: textiles, processed copper wire, machine parts, and — of particular interest to the city’s beleaguered spice merchants — approximately 120 pounds of eastern spice across nine varieties. The spice cargo was originally destined for three Guild member businesses and was loaded before the crisis altered the meaning of every sack on board.

One hundred and twenty pounds. In normal times, it would represent a fraction of a single week’s trade through Bramblegate. In the current climate, it is the first physical replenishment of eastern spice stocks since the Kaelmar Strait was effectively closed to commercial traffic three weeks ago.

The Numbers

The Spice Crisis Committee, chaired by Haroun Nazari, will take delivery of the spice cargo on Friday morning after customs clearance. Nazari confirmed that the consignment will be allocated according to the committee’s rationing framework — existing restaurant clients first, retail quantities second — at prices within the 250 per cent cap.

“One hundred and twenty pounds does not solve the problem,” Nazari said. “But it proves that the Sarenne route works. The goods arrive. They arrive late and they arrive expensive, but they arrive.”

The Aldara’s cargo includes approximately 30 pounds of black cardamom — a variety that Wednesday’s stockpile audit showed at four weeks’ supply — along with smaller quantities of dried saffron bark, golden peppervine, and smoked coriander seed. No velveroot, which remains the scarcest variety at 29 pounds citywide.

The Eastern Spice Index opened Thursday at 336, down from 342 on Wednesday’s close — its fifth consecutive daily decline and its lowest point since 25 February. The decline reflects both the Aldara’s arrival and the broader diplomatic optimism following the Kharstad Gazette’s editorial endorsement of the quiet channel process.

The Second Vessel

The Fernleigh Cross, a larger cargo vessel that has been sheltering in harbour since Tuesday’s gales, was loaded in Thessara four days after the Aldara and carries a significantly larger eastern cargo — estimated at 400 to 500 pounds of spice across twenty varieties, plus textiles and copper goods. She is expected to complete customs clearance on Friday or Saturday.

“The Fernleigh Cross is the more significant cargo,” said Marta Engel, the committee’s wholesale broker. “If the manifest reports are accurate, she carries nearly a month’s velveroot supply alone.”

Two additional Sarenne-routed vessels are expected within the fortnight. Beyond that, the resupply pipeline depends on how long the Kaelmar Strait remains closed to commercial traffic — a question that is being addressed, at this moment, in a windowless room on Chancery Row.

The Emergency Ordinance

The Council has formally received the Spice Crisis Committee’s petition for an emergency pricing ordinance extending the Guild’s 250 per cent cap to all merchants, including the six non-Guild vendors currently selling above the ceiling. Council Speaker Desmond Falk confirmed Thursday that the petition has been referred to the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee.

“The petition will be considered at the appropriate committee level and with appropriate urgency,” Falk said — a formulation that suggests neither the immediate action the Guild sought nor an indefinite delay.

Nazari, when informed, was measured: “We have been patient. The committee will assess the petition. In the meantime, the cap holds among our members, and the first cargo has arrived. These are facts. The rest is politics.”

The Aldara’s crew were given shore leave on Thursday afternoon. Captain Oort was last seen walking toward Rensler’s on Threadneedle Street, where a cup of coffee now costs four florins — a price that, like so many in this city, has a story behind it.