The Audit of Ashes

The Audit of Ashes begins after victory, when other realms might prefer songs. Caerdun brings out benches, ledgers, surviving witnesses, burned maps, broken spearheads, ration marks, and the names of villages saved or sacrificed. Commanders who held the road must explain which road they abandoned. Quartermasters who fed an army must answer for who starved. A medal may be granted in the morning and a censure read before dusk. The Audit does not make war clean. Nothing can. It exists because Caerdun fears the kind of triumph that teaches soldiers their necessity has placed them beyond judgement.