The Hall of Welcome shudders as the opened aperture tries to decide what Kynes is, key, intruder, or wound. Red script crawls over the stone around his stained hands, then pauses, listening.

Bren plants her weight against the cracked masonry, while dust rains from the ceiling in thin grey threads. The passage behind Kynes narrows with a wet, grinding groan.

A fresh pulse runs through the ledger cradle, answering the warning. In the same instant, the red script at Kynes's palms flares into a maplike lattice, pointing deeper into the vault and outward toward the coast at once.

The collapse slows just enough to reveal the next sealed route, now marked for a bearer who has already been rewritten. If Kynes moves now, he can pursue the hidden core before House Xar closes its grip on the entrance forever.

The Envoy's hood tips in a small, formal bow. The red script on the stone flickers once, then steadies into a cleaner line, as if his answer satisfies a hidden rule.

Bren eases one shoulder off the wall, still braced but no longer straining. The ledger cradle gives a soft, calm pulse, answering the room with patient certainty.

For Kynes's benefit, the maplike script widens for a breath and traces a second line beneath the floor, showing where the sealed route folds into the vault's heart. The chamber holds, uneasy but intact.

The red script on the floor gives a faint, obedient flicker, then holds its cleaner shape. The ledger cradle answers with a low pulse, calm as a held breath.