Hajin kept his hand beside the carriage cushion while Ferra lowered five dead bands onto separate rests across the gravel. Their socket sat inside its own Chain loop, and three corrupted fittings waited apart beneath the wagon's locked compartment covers.
"Positions, not a rebuild," Ferra said, wedging a spacer between two edges, "so none of these curves gets to kiss its neighbor."
"Kissing's off the table, got it."
Hajin squinted at the gaps while Aria slid their old survey record beside them, "Okay, dumb question time."
"Can the original turn still leave a bearing after its response is spent?"
Aria's projection traced the recorded circulation without pushing fresh mana through the recovered socket.
"It may preserve a route, Master," she answered, "the older pockets still match the removed band, but their age and maker remain unknown."
"Unknown and unknown, my favorite flavor of answer."
