**KIAN**
The office feels smaller at night. It always does once the pack settles and the noise drains away, when the responsibilities of the day finally loosen their grip just enough for memory to slip through the cracks. I sit behind the desk long after I should have left, fingers resting against the smooth wood as if it might anchor me, the low lamplight catching on maps and training schedules that no longer need my attention.
This was never the part of leadership they prepared me for.
They taught me discipline, strategy, restraint, how to command without hesitation and punish without indulgence, but no one warned me how quiet it would become when everyone else slept and the past finally found room to breathe. Tonight, it breathes easily, filling the space with memories I have spent y
