The city did not wake all at once.

It stirred.

Slowly. Uneasily. Like a wounded animal testing whether it was safe to move again.

Morning bells rang later than usual, their tones uneven as if the metal itself hesitated. Merchants opened shutters a fraction at a time, peering out as though expecting the streets themselves to bite back. Citizens gathered in small knots at street corners, voices low, heads inclined toward one another, eyes lifting again and again toward the palace that ...