Chapter 203

Not tense. Not hopeful. Just present—like weather you learned to read instead of curse.

Weeks passed. Then a month.

The councils did not send armies. They did not lift sanctions either. They circled the problem the way predators circled fire—close enough to test the heat, far enough not to burn.

Inside the valley, something quieter took root.

People stopped asking what happens if they come and started asking what happens if they don’t.

That question changed ...