Captain Roen checked all four royal ward seals before admitting the trial party into the western training hall.
Attendants cleared the galleries and surrounding doors while Ferra set the prayer case behind a screen at the circle's edge. Vella tested her medical sensors against Didi's resting frequency, and Eirwen readied a treaty slate beside the waiting commission recorder.
Hajin waited outside the marked circle with his right arm strapped against its sling.
'If I screw up this single gap, she pays for it with her own source.'
Vella allowed him a brief first-Ring interruption of the external completion route, but higher Rings and Phase Lock stayed forbidden. The grounding stone stood past the target frame, cut off from every palace service feed that Ferra still needed intact.
She tapped the sling's buckle with two fingers, "Touch a second Ring and I'll strap your other arm too."
"Wow, threatened by my own medic, that's a new low."
"It won't be the last."
