I notice it the next morning in ways that are almost easy to dismiss, which I suspect is the point, because nothing about it is loud or forceful or overt enough to trigger immediate resistance. There are no orders delivered with authority, no guards posted outside my door, no restrictions announced in language that would let me push back cleanly. Instead, there are suggestions, offered with polite smiles and reasonable tones, the kind that carry concern instead of command, and that is what makes them dangerous.
It starts with a warrior falling into step beside me as I head toward training, close enough to be companionable rather than intrusive, their pace matched to mine with practiced ease.
“I was heading that way anyway,” they say easily, as if the coincidence is unremarkable.
“That’s
