Hajin's forearm still carried the route warning when the senior keeper entered the memory-root chamber with a bark tablet held against his chest. No armor covered the keeper, and the palace accepted his measured pace as ordinary authority.
Eirwen stepped between him and the basin, and her twelve Shards hovered close to her shoulders, each one quieter than the roots trembling beneath the floor.
"The chamber is closed until the Court confirms the damage, and no keeper carries a sealed invitation past this line without an answer."
The keeper placed the tablet on the copper frame, and gray light pulsed beneath its bark seal.
"The Court can confirm damage after it hears what the root tried to say, and I found a voice willing to answer every fear at once."
Juna opened one Wing above the doorway and said, "A voice that answers every fear can still answer with the wrong command, and the roots have not agreed to receive it."
