Daro returned to the archive the next morning with Muo, Qinghe, Yan, and Han. The guardian remained still in its marked groove. The harbor alarm lamp burned through the control line they had separated, and Lian’s keepers watched the entrance.
They were not going back to the family cabinet. Today’s order named the maintenance register behind the pylon manuals. Daro had noticed a reference to a second glaze sheet in its index, one not listed among the pages removed during the Registry inspection.
He found the register on the lower shelf. Its binding had split at the back, leaving a narrow space between the last pages and the cover. A loose sheet had been tucked inside. Daro lifted it only after Muo checked the order.
The page named a heat-resistant glaze kept at a Registry warehouse. It described a broader coating that spread current across the collar surface and included a firing interval. The exact mixture was written in a separate table, along with a notice that the mineral could be purchased through approved repair orders.
Qinghe compared the measurements with the ten-minute test. “The old coating covered a narrower strip. That explains why the heat gathered at the seam.”
