AISLYN.I do not act immediately.

That is the mistake people expect me to make once truth sharpens into certainty. They imagine anger surging forward, plans accelerated, traps sprung too early. They forget that patience has always been my most lethal discipline.

Knowledge is not a signal to move.

It is a signal to prepare.

The days that follow are outwardly unremarkable. I maintain my routines. I attend council sessions. I walk the packhouse corridors with the same measured calm the wolves have ...