Micro-oscillation noise threaded into the overlay—Aetherion-level ambient water mana, mimicked and compressed into the model.
Draven's gaze moved to Elara.
"Your golden layer," he said. "Calibration ring. What variable did you hold constant? What did you let drift?"
Elara stepped forward.
Her face remained neutral.
Her hand tremored once.
Then she locked it still like a discipline rite.
"We held phase anchoring constant at the outer ring," Elara said, crisp and quiet. "We allowed internal amplitude to drift within a defined tolerance envelope. Suppression fails because it stores rebound energy. Envelope tuning disperses variance without erasing it."
Draven cut in with a single word.
"Number."
Elara didn't blink. "Phase drift tolerance: two-point-eight degrees before instability resumes. Retention stability at load: eighty-one percent within envelope. Beyond that, oscillation returns nonlinear."
Astrid exhaled so softly Amberine barely heard it.
Relief.
