Chapter 33 · Petition Seventeen

Petition Seventeen arrived on winter wind: restore full soul-share to Nessa Corvale, third-year alchemy, harvested at fifteen by Professor Halven's "supplementary tutelage" before the scandal broke.

Halven had been stripped of rank, not imprisoned. He sat now in the gallery with silver-tipped staff across his knees and the expression of a man who believed time owed him deference.

Kael hated that he understood the posture—had worn defiance like armor in earlier iterations. He chaired the hearing anyway.

"State the harm," he said.

Nessa stood with Renn at her side—medical files in hand, scar proud not hidden. Her voice shook only once. "I lose minutes. Mid-sentence, mid-spell, mid-step. Something pulls and I wake on the floor with knowledge I didn't study and fatigue I didn't earn. I dream his lectures in his voice. I am eighteen and I feel borrowed."

Tomas recorded every word at the annex table, pen steady. Kael had trained him for this: no editorializing, no flinching at power.

Halven spoke with polished regret. "Supplementary channels were academy-sanctioned in their era. Restoration risks destabilizing wards that now run on redistributed essence. Practical concerns—"

"Practical concerns harvested children," Tamsin said from the committee table. "We have the ledgers.