Ferra met them inside the western archive with every remaining foundation key spread across a sealed inspection cloth. Eleven pieces occupied twelve numbered positions, leaving the sixth space empty beneath a custody strip signed before Hajin reached the capital.
"The missing key controls western return paths," she said, holding her floating tools outside the evidence boundary, "somebody removed it after the Witness Avatar died, then used royal blood to preserve the opening."
The surviving keys resembled broad pins rather than anything meant for an ordinary lock. Each carried foundation geometry along its shaft, while a small royal channel waited beneath the head for an authorized hand.
Didi placed her sword beside the recorders before approaching the missing position. Crowned Frost remained sealed under Vella’s treatment limit, leaving her to examine the custody history without using another royal current.
"My brother signed the key set out during the archive collapse," she said, following the copied seal toward its return line, "the record claims every piece came back before the avatar entered the armor."
"The set returned by weight," Ferra replied, pointing toward the sixth slot with one ceramic measure, "somebody replaced the key with a palace brace core, then removed the false piece after the weighing officer left."
Hajin examined the empty cloth through Divine Eye before touching anything, inside the limits they had verified. A thin authorization line remained inside the numbered position, turning beneath the archive floor toward the same route that had seized the child’s blood.
[ Foundation key set: eleven of twelve present ]
[ Missing function: western ward return / inversion authority ]
[ Last valid blood authorization: First Prince ]
"Can it turn the palace defenses against the capital?" he asked, keeping one Ring closed while the Eye traced the surviving line.
"The old foundation listens through these pieces before it listens through the current control room," Ferra said, pressing a tool against the matching seventh key, "the missing one can reverse directions already recognized as royal maintenance."
Eirwen stood beyond the archive threshold where her treaty witness seal covered the inspection. Her burned arrowhead remained inside a separate evidence box, carrying the command that had traveled through Hajin’s room.
"The pulse crossed Crown seals without damaging them," she said, comparing its path against Ferra’s explanation, "inversion would let an attacker use every defense while preserving the appearance of lawful operation."
"That explains why revocation failed before we knew a key was missing," Didi replied, opening her brother’s authorization ledger, "the foundation still sees his blood before it asks whether he retains office access."
The King entered through the guarded archive door with two neutral recorders and no council escort. His pressure remained folded beneath twenty closed Shards, although every surviving foundation key shifted toward him beneath the inspection cloth.
He read the missing position before anyone supplied a softened report; the First Prince retained blood authorization because the royal foundation had never treated an heir’s standing as something an office could revoke; "I suspended his palace access after Didi opened the servant ledger," the King said, placing his sovereign seal beside the inspection boundary, "the current wards accepted the order while the buried system continued honoring his blood."
"Can you remove it from the foundation directly?" Hajin asked.
"I can attempt a sovereign revocation through the remaining set," he replied, directing both recorders toward separate stations, "if the old node answers blood before authority, the failure must be witnessed before anyone proposes greater force."
Ferra locked the eleven surviving keys into a nonactive frame she had built from certified palace iron. Their heads aligned around the empty sixth position, letting the King’s current reach every recorded ward without entering the missing route blindly.
He placed two fingers against the sovereign plate and opened one Shard. Gold entered the frame through office authority, carrying an order that removed the First Prince from every foundation function under the current Crown.
The eleven keys accepted the revocation before directing it toward the empty position. Something beneath the palace examined the order, found the King’s blood, then found an older recognized branch attached to the missing key.
The foundation separated office from lineage before rejecting the command; white-gold lines returned across the frame without attacking, leaving the First Prince’s blood authorization unchanged beneath the western ward network.
{Sovereign revocation attempt witnessed.}
{Current office authority: King / valid.}
{Target foundation authorization: First Prince blood / retained.}
{Failure basis: blood recognized before current office.}
That King closed his Shard without increasing output against the frame; Greater pressure could break the surviving keys, but losing them would remove the only physical controls still answering the current throne.
"The foundation predates every succession restriction inside our law," he said, signing the failed order, "my ancestors built their palace above a system that recognized family before government, then called the result royal security."
"Your son found the part that agrees with him," Hajin replied, watching the missing route turn deeper, "he can make a lawful ward perform an unlawful command without forging another seal."
"Yes," the King said, accepting the charge without defending the inheritance, "and I cannot erase his blood without destroying the foundation supporting occupied districts."
Didi closed the authorization ledger after copying every key removal under her brother’s seal. His access had not survived through clever magic alone, because the palace had preserved a right that birth granted beyond office or consent.
"Then we stop treating the theft as an archive problem," she said, moving the capital map beside the inspection frame, "which defenses can the western return key invert before we reach him?"
Ferra rotated the map until nine district monuments aligned with the buried node. Each monument connected roads, evacuation gates, healer stations, plus defensive pressure intended to push an invading army away from the palace.
Reversed flow would close those roads around civilians while directing every defensive strike inward. The missing key could also turn royal healing relays into paths feeding whatever waited beneath the First Prince’s authorized wing.
"He has not triggered the complete inversion yet," Ferra said, placing markers across every vulnerable district, "the blood pulse used one narrow instruction, which means the key is being tested or prepared."
"Send route captains before the monuments change," Hajin said, marking the western bridges first, "population counts matter more than another attempt to break a system we do not understand."
The King ordered evacuation preparations through ordinary guard channels without mentioning divine descent publicly. He placed Didi over western route coordination, giving her authority to close royal property whenever civilian movement required it.
Eirwen added Alder treaty observers to the outer ward lines, limiting them to recording changes plus carrying messages. Her people received no right to command Crown guards, preserving the boundary she had defended throughout the commission.
Ferra removed the surviving keys from her test frame and sealed them into separate cases. Breaking one stolen control would not justify placing the other eleven together where another pulse could claim them.
"I need the Witness Avatar metal from commission custody," she said, writing her material request beneath the failed revocation, "its frequency resisted the old foundation before Hajin killed it, and I can use that difference to ground selected wards."
"Take every piece with a recorded weight," the King replied, signing the transfer, "leave the core fragment under Hajin’s custody until the remaining divine frequency becomes readable."
Hajin followed the missing key line while the archive emptied into assigned work. The route passed beneath the western district, touched all nine monuments, then gathered inside a chamber whose walls still refused Divine Eye.
One white-gold point brightened inside that hidden center before the line withdrew from sight. Across the capital map, the western monument changed direction beneath Ferra’s waiting marker.