Kade realized authority had begun slipping not through a single gesture of defiance, but through the sum of small displacements accumulating like cracks in an ancient structure, because real power rarely falls in one blow, it drains away when people begin acting without asking permission, when decisions are made on the margins, when gazes stop seeking confirmation, and this was happening before his eyes with speed he hadn't foreseen.

The pack continued functioning, rounds were made, ...