The city learned the cost first.

Not all at once. Not dramatically. Not in a way that could be named and condemned.

It began with delays.

The western aqueduct spell faltered at dawn, water pressure thinning to an uneven trickle. No announcement accompanied it. No official explanation followed. People waited, assuming correction would come—as it always had. Children were sent back inside with empty buckets. Workers lingered beside fountains, glancing up at the towers as if the answer might ...