The service gate rattled against its braced stop below while Eirwen held the arch above the crawling guards.
The first sentry slid beneath her bow into the neutral corridor, and his partner followed with his spear held flat. Their command threads stretched after both bodies until the unmarked side, then snapped loose from their cores just beyond it.
Eirwen wedged her bow's upper limb beneath the arch's narrowing edge, blood still smeared across her teeth.
"Thirty-three breaths," she counted, watching the councilors still crawling behind the first pair, "the gate's open, so keep moving through."
Hajin opened his first Ring with StarGuard dormant and the Chain loose, handing the avatar another classification to chew on. Pressure still shoved against his shoulders when he stepped forward, but no kneeling order hooked itself onto that pushing force.
He lifted one foot off the marked paving and planted it beside the next seam, teeth bared.
