The break did not come with thunder.

It did not split the sky or crack the towers or announce itself with spectacle.

It came with hesitation.

Varenth woke beneath a sky the color of bruised steel, clouds pressing low enough to make the towers feel smaller than they had the day before. Wind threaded through the streets without direction, tugging at banners stripped of council sigils, lifting corners of loose parchment covered in proposals, grievances, and half-formed agreements written in ...