(Winter's POV)
The training floor had transformed in the hours since lunch.
Where morning had been about instruction—correction, repetition, the careful building of foundation—afternoon had become about pressure testing. About discovering which of these fifty warriors could perform when performance cost something.
Winter stood at the far end of the long rectangular space, Kat mirroring her position forty meters opposite. Between them, the warriors had been divided with brutal efficiency. Those who had shown hesitation, who had pulled strikes, who had sought to "pass by" rather than excel—they formed a ragged line on Kat's side of the floor. The others, the ones who had demonstrated proper aggression and commitment throughout the day, stood in disciplined ranks on Winter's side.
The mes
