Ty knew the consent seal was trouble before the drawer finished opening it.
The paper came up black, smoother than the Hamberton sheets and harder to read from straight on. Omina angled her hilt so the overhead light struck the surface from the side. Pale letters showed where the ink had refused to cover.
Ty stayed behind the boot mark.
That took effort.
The first line named the condition at the time of purpose assignment. Deceased. Unclaimed. Unconsulted.
The last word stayed in his head after the rest settled into office language. Dead was a state. Unclaimed was a failure wearing a clerk's coat. Unconsulted meant somebody had skipped a person, or skipped the work of finding one, and then let the file call the absence clean.
Zunoder read the same line with his hands folded.
"Deceased subjects cannot be consulted after the death marker."
Yun-Jin stood close enough to the drawer for the black surface to reflect along her sleeve.
