Lincoln's POV:
The decision was not unanimous.
That would have concerned me more than disagreement.
What was important was that no one had denied the truth of what Sky had seen or what I had felt. The mother had deliberately paused. Her question—whatever form it took—had been no opening outburst in an attack.
It had been an adjustment.
That night, the Chamber of Council stayed alight long after the city fell into silence. Maps upon maps overlaid lay above the table: fracture sites, constellation anchors, sanctuary nodes, and places where life had thickened rather than thinned.
Patterns.
Always patterns.
“She’s not reaching everywhere,” Crisha said hushly. “Only where resistance is overlaying, shared, and sustained.”
Ayaana's fingers traced the edges of one glowing region. "Where l
