[KAEL — POV]
Riven's message came at 01:17: Damaris is moving. She's called a private session with two council members. Looks like advance prep for an emergency war vote. She doesn't have the quorum yet but she's building it.
Kael was already in his coat. He sent back: How long before she has quorum?
Hours. Maybe less. She's working fast. Something's spooked her.
Pellier. If the Architects' communication network had flagged the authentication change, if something had sent a signal—
He sent to Sera's routing: Damaris is moving. She's building quorum for an emergency vote. How close are you?
No reply for two minutes. He walked toward the Noctis district's outer edge—not into it, not yet, but toward the border where he could move in either direction depending on what happened next.
The
