The broken hall did not become home, but it did stop being only a cage.
Within the next official cycle, the provisional operating status Jehovah had enforced upon the record began taking shape. The nine were relocated from the compromised chamber into a wider restricted wing with multiple egress points, reduced dead end barriers, and sufficient open space for training operations before the next erasure team arrived. It remained monitored territory. Continuum markers followed every significant movement. Reports flowed to Malakhiel regardless of preferences. Sera maintained dispute standing, wielding it with visible intent. Tohu retained residual instruction rights through demanding thresholds. Jehovah maintained final supervisory authority.
None of which constituted freedom.
It did amount to a different form of survival.
