Later tellings would use larger language than the room used while living it.
They would not be entirely wrong, but they would be less useful than the marks.
A direct civic attempt had been made to quarantine memory, smooth witness, capture entry, tidy dangerous remains, and return the house to the public as one more stabilized service surface.
It failed.
It failed because the structure had already learned to survive by chambers, standing, seats, cut-hour return, corrected names, visible charge, memory that did not flinch from ugliness, and enough maintenance kept alive while the trucks still idled outside.
Witness board: After count.
"Damage logged before praise." "Repair queue opened." "Sweep documents preserved." "New chamber rules entered." "House remained live."
House gloss.
Marks that stayed are not relics. They are visible proof that structure carried pressure instead of merely explaining it afterward.
Final fragment.
The house did not survive because it was pure. It survived because enough of its charges already had names and holders.
After-count marginalia.
The trucks left marks. The house kept the ones that taught. The rest went back into work, where marks must finally go if they are not to become idols.