The operator confirmation mark sat on the page like a thumb pressed into wet paper.
Ty kept waiting for the name to follow.
The page kept refusing him.
That refusal had shape now. Before, the blank line had felt like a locked door. After the trace opened, it felt like someone standing behind the door with both hands on the latch, breathing quietly while the room argued about whether a person counted as evidence before they counted as prey.
Ty hated that thought because it made him want to protect the person and hurt them at the same time.
Omina's pen touched the page before the want in him found a bad direction.
"Open confirmation meaning by effect only, owner sealed."
The mark flattened.
Ink bled outward, then pulled itself back into the small pressed shape.
Zunoder stepped closer to the table, careful enough that every shoe scrape sounded measured.
"That still lets the page answer with a person."
Omina kept writing.
"Then narrow it before the route gets clever."
