Maybe, but not sure I buy that. Yes, SH causes great terror, but Alviarin also believed that he was the DO. Generally in such a situation you would expect the darkfriend to do anything in his or her power to please SH. Giving the most powerfull sa'angreal to the shadow would certainly qualify. And while Elza may have been terrified, she had to have been atleast mostly stable, or she would not have managed to unravel Cadsuanes complex wards. Surely that would have taken a lot focus and concentration.

Still, you may be right that Elza was just so shellshocked that she could not think straight. She might just have unraveled the ward on "autopilot" or something. I also recall that BS also said Elza was given access to rare weaves to break Cadsuanes ward, which was "unpleasant" for her. I don't know what that means exactly but it could have messed with her mind even further.

I doubt however that Shaidar Haran is THAT alien. I think if he was there in the room, he would have noticed the access key. We have had POVs from SH and his thought patterns were not completely bizarre. He has intelligence even if he is not human. Realising the importance of the access key should be withing his grasp. He would be a pretty pathetic godly avatar otherwise I think.

Hmm. One other thing that does occur to me is the compulsion Elza was under. SH noticed it, and Semirhage did remove it, but only AFTER Elza had fetched the access key. Is it possible that Elza did notice the access key, but Verin's compulsion kicked in and prevented Elza from taking it since doing so would have been against "serving Rand".