The world did not celebrate.
That, Aurelia thought later, might have been the most honest response of all.
There were no banners raised, no declarations of victory, no moment where tension snapped cleanly into relief. Instead, what followed the Assembly’s step back was something quieter and far more difficult to name: adjustment.
Systems that had relied on pressure now had to operate without it. People accustomed to reacting were asked suddenly, uncomfortably to decide.
Aurelia felt the shift like a weather change under the skin. Not dangerous. Just unfamiliar.
She stood on the Stronghold’s highest overlook at dawn, watching fog gather in the lowlands where instability once flared bright and violent. Now it moved sluggishly, like a bruise fading unevenly.
Kane joined her, arms restin
