I woke before the sun again. Not from a nightmare, and not from panic. Just awareness. My body had started keeping its own rhythm now. A kind of survival beat. I moved through the darkness of the loft without switching on any lights. My bare feet were silent against the floor. I made tea instead of coffee, letting the bitterness steep more slowly.

There was no script for this morning. No checklist to pull from a drawer and mark through. This felt like a day that would test not my planning, but ...