Nihil ignored the first offer.
I stood behind the chalk line with my hand above the measuring plate. The trace barely reached the lower mark. Nothing changed in the crack near the guard.
One breath. Two.
I stopped.
"No visible response," the keeper said.
I flexed my fingers once. No tightness at the elbow, no pull toward the case. The healer checked before allowing me to lower the arm.
Veylan looked at the line I had drawn that morning. "You kept the limit."
"I had an audience."
"Keep one, then."
He moved the measuring plate aside while the healer watched the return. I tried not to look disappointed by an attempt in which nothing bad had happened. The sword did not seem impressed either.
The keeper left the result line empty until I confirmed there had been no word during the offer. Then he entered that beside the unchanged blade.
"Does this count as a failed trial?" I asked.
"Failed to produce a response," he said. "It still tells us what happened at that mark."
