The story shifts focus to two new apprentices, Calico and Fimble, working in the Grand Atrium, responsible for polishing ceremonial light reflectors and Snow Globes. They discover that the objects are not merely drained of resonance but have suffered Intent Removal, turning them flat gray. Fimble’s diagnostic thermal brush fails immediately upon touching the inert glass, indicating active consumption rather than simple energy loss. A sudden, violent impact is heard from the sealed Chime Maintenance Shaft, followed by an emergency material requisition code tapped out from the inside, signaling a desperate need for reserves from the Sealed Vaults below. Calico and Fimble realize routine procedure is obsolete and Fimble provides the master key to the sealed shaft to investigate the source of the tapping.