The guards kept the shared sequence after the shaking stopped.
It would have been easy to abandon it once the first pressure at the turn had eased. Instead, the human guard commander stayed beside the envoy until the local staff confirmed each group clear. A dungeon guard repeated changes by voice when the independent line failed to carry them. The human guards waited for the reply before moving the next row.
Eli listened from his observation seat. A broken message did not mean the people at the other end had vanished. It meant someone had to look, call, and wait for the answer. The work was slower than an authoritative display announcing a clear route. It was also grounded in the bodies actually moving through the yard.
The last group from the checked rooms reached the triage area. One woman had twisted her wrist catching herself against a door; another was shaking too hard to describe what hurt. Tessa’s medics treated both. The delegate who had opposed the plan stayed beside the clerk whose dressing he was holding until a medic took over. When he stood, he asked where he could sit without blocking the next patient.
Nobody asked him to revise his vote.
