The sealed hearing chamber held two royal chairs beneath the King's raised position. Didi occupied the left one with her ice-flower ledger, while the First Prince's chair remained empty beneath a folded illness notice.
Hajin stood behind the territorial evidence line beside Ferra's divided cradle. Juna held the aperture witness record farther back, and two royal recorders checked every chamber seal without opening a Ring.
Eirwen's sealed memory-root case rested in a shaded diplomatic recess. Its treaty strip waited unaccepted while the hearing decided who could hear the warning inside it.
Three councilors shared the long inner table beneath the dais. Succession review sat closest to Didi, the royal archive held the center, and household procedure guarded the illness notice.
The King entered without a herald, and his twenty Shards remained hidden. The room still quieted around the pressure of his breathing.
