Found, not explained
Seven, and the twenty-five beside it
Were you meant to navigate by these numbers, or to notice that you cannot?
They sit under the star on the crest like a date, a debt, or a count of something that should not have been numbered in public.
Seven sages. Seven who swore. A private tally no one here will translate. Twenty-five like a second thought that refused to leave the metal.
If a number on a shield is not a year, what is it doing dressed as one?
