Imperial cipher archive at morning, warm candlelight over desks, shelves, and coded dispatches.

Oren interrupts Aune's archive work with ledgers and ribbon-marked evidence.

Oren lays out the three useful annotations and connects them to imperial advantages.

Oren clarifies that his accusation is bureaucratic before it is treasonous.

Aune attempts a scholarly explanation, but the situation has already moved beyond the archive.

The war council chamber, candlelit and severe, receives Aune for questioning.

Oren presents the pattern to the council while Aune stands under scrutiny.

Aune answers what she can by turning the interrogation into a lesson on marginal glyphs.

Vaury asks who directed Aune to the useful readings, and the Veil reacts.

Aune retreats to technical truth, answering around the forbidden source.

Oren and the council focus on the pattern, not Aune's explanations.

The council's questions approach the forbidden booth without naming it directly.

Marta storms into the council chamber to defend her kitchen's honor.

Marta insists rats were involved, buying Aune seconds of safety.

Oren cuts through the distraction with one direct question.

Oren asks whether Edran has communicated military intelligence by an unregistered channel, and Aune nearly breaks under the Veil.

Veiled Mother Seraphine enters before Aune can be destroyed by silence.

Seraphine asserts the Order's authority over Aune's devotional marks.

Seraphine invents an official theological exercise and locks it behind Order secrecy.

The war council retreats from challenging the Order before treaty negotiations.

Seraphine leads Aune out of the council chamber into a private corridor.

Seraphine's remark reveals that she understands Aune's use of indirect signals.