Vella kept the training hall closed until Didi’s soul heat returned to its earlier baseline. Two hours passed beneath gold diagnostic contact before she approved another attempt under narrower conditions.
Gazel’s complete prayer remained sealed behind Ferra’s ceramic screen instead of serving as a circulation guide. Aria preserved only three frequency curves above the floor: Hajin’s hybrid reference, Gazel’s borrowed route, plus Didi’s natural source response.
"Phase Lock will measure their relationship without sending my mana into you," Hajin said, loosening the wrap around his right wrist, "if either current begins treating me as its source, I release contact immediately."
Didi returned her sword to the evidence stand before entering the central circle. She would produce frost through her empty hand, removing steel, the prayer, plus Gazel’s technique impression from anything her body might follow automatically.
Eirwen remained beside Vella under the recognized treaty witness seal throughout the test. Ferra controlled the inactive prayer case outside the hall, while Captain Roen kept every servant plus guard beyond its warded doors.
{Second Sovereign-current training test.}
{Phase Lock function: measurement and relative stabilization only.}
{Mana, authority, or oath transfer from Hajin: prohibited.}
The princess offered her right wrist after reading every recorded condition aloud. Hajin closed his recovering hand around it without covering her Shards, leaving the skin above both circulation routes in direct contact.
One controlled Ring opened around his right wrist beneath their joined hands. Gold-purple lines rose through the gray pathways toward his forearm, carrying no outward current while Phase Lock established his hybrid rotation as a visible measuring interval.
[ Primary frequency: Hajin hybrid core / reference only ]
[ Compared frequency: Didi dormant Sovereign channel ]
"Produce the smallest natural response you can hold without the prayer," Hajin said, keeping his fingers loose around her wrist, "do not match the Ring or fight it until Aria marks the difference."
Didi opened her first Shard and formed ordinary frost across her empty palm. Gold appeared inside the pale blue before silver reached it, pulling both colors toward the rhythm preserved from Gazel’s borrowed Brand.
Aria placed a fixed mark where Didi’s personal source should have turned inward. Her current passed that point early, then bent toward the external-bearer return Gazel had completed throughout his years of renewals.
[ First circulation attempt ]
[ Natural source turn: missed / early crossing ]
[ Unconscious match: Gazel bearer frequency ]
[ Soul heat: absent at current output ]
Hajin held his own rhythm unchanged instead of correcting Didi through contact. Phase Lock made the deviation visible, leaving her responsible for deciding where her silver-gold route moved next.
She felt the stable hybrid interval beneath his wrist and pushed her current away from it. The rejection collapsed gold plus silver together, extinguishing every color except the ordinary frost supported by her first Shard.
"That was mine, not Gazel’s," Hajin said, keeping the measuring interval present after her rejection, "you refused the reference successfully, but your own turn disappeared with it."
"Then your rhythm is another answer my body can imitate," Didi replied, watching the fixed marks above their hands, "leave it stable while I refuse both men without emptying my source."
Her second Shard opened beside the first before she produced another narrow frost current. Silver appeared earlier this time, yet gold accelerated toward Hajin’s hybrid interval when she avoided Gazel’s recorded return.
The two measured frequencies approached synchronization without transferring any mana between them. Didi rejected Hajin’s rhythm a second time, narrowing silver until the entire royal current withdrew beneath her ordinary frost.
[ Gazel bearer match: rejected ]
[ Hajin hybrid reference match: rejected ]
[ Personal Sovereign circulation: not sustained ]
Heat entered Hajin’s right wrist when her rejection struck Phase Lock’s fixed relationship. The technique preserved its measuring interval by carrying the mismatch into his gray pathways, reopening red pressure beneath the cooling wrap.
Vella raised one hand toward the stop mark without entering the circle. Hajin kept his Ring at the permitted output because the strain remained below her declared limit and Didi had produced no soul heat.
"One attempt remains before his arm ends the session," she warned, following the mismatch toward Hajin’s elbow, "success does not purchase another repetition after that boundary."
Didi acknowledged the final limit without hearing it as another permanent wall. She closed her second Shard, waited until ordinary frost settled, then reopened both through the natural circulation she used before any Brand appeared.
The third attempt began with pale-blue mana moving from core to shoulder, wrist, palm, plus waiting air. Silver formed inside that established route instead of arriving from Gazel’s diagram or Hajin’s stable contact.
Gold followed the colder personal current without replacing its established natural timing. Didi reached the turn Aria had marked, slowed her output before crossing, then allowed silver to choose a narrower path through her own active source.
She refused Gazel’s return without reaching for Hajin’s hybrid interval. Both borrowed answers remained visible beside her, while neither received the current now circulating through two Shards under her control.
[ Source: Didi active Sovereign channel ]
[ Gazel bearer frequency copied: no ]
[ Hajin hybrid frequency copied: no ]
[ Soul heat: none ]
A colder silver-gold line crossed her palm before extending one finger into the air. It carried no prayer completion, oath command, fourth Shard, or stable technique name while remaining unmistakably different from Gazel’s gold-dominant Brand.
Aria preserved its single rotation as Didi’s personal source response. The line stayed coherent for three breaths without feeding upon her soul, Hajin’s mana, Gazel’s imprint, or any palace ward beyond the training circle.
[ Personal Sovereign frequency observed ]
[ Sovereign’s Brand: incomplete ]
[ Didi Shards: three / unchanged ]
The successful mismatch traveled backward through Phase Lock when Didi released her current. Heat crossed Hajin’s elbow, reached the recovering shoulder route, then split one reddened line beneath Vella’s upper wrap.
He released Didi’s wrist immediately before the technique could preserve another rotation. His Ring closed immediately, ending Phase Lock plus every measuring mark without asking her to repeat the result for a cleaner record.
"Session finished," Hajin said, supporting his right arm with his left hand, "Aria captured the frequency, and another attempt spends recovery instead of teaching either of us anything new."
Didi closed both Shards while Vella examined Hajin through direct gold contact. The new strain widened no permanent burn, although Phase Lock became unavailable until the reopened pathway line cooled again.
Eirwen signed the three-attempt record after confirming Didi supplied every active current herself. Her attention remained upon Hajin when Didi left with Vella to place the preserved frequency beneath commission custody.
"Powerful men frequently mistake helping someone for the right to own her result," she said, resting one hand upon her silverwood bow, "you ended the method when your usefulness ended, although she had finally succeeded."
"Didi would stab me if I tried claiming it," he replied, retightening the wrap with his left hand, "probably after making two recorders document why the stabbing was legally necessary."
Eirwen’s formal composure opened into visible amusement before she restrained it. The warmth carried no diplomatic calculation, because his answer treated Didi’s independence as obvious rather than exceptional.
"Then your survival may depend upon continuing good judgment," she replied, allowing the smile to remain, "I find that possibility more encouraging than another promise of obedience."
Hajin met her amber gaze while the empty training circle cooled behind them. Didi’s first safe silver-gold frequency belonged to its source, while Eirwen’s interest settled upon the man who had known when to let it go.