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"You got it right."

I stop. "How do you know?"

"Kaelis complained."

"About me?"

"About everyone."

He keeps walking. I call after him, "That doesn't answer the question!"

Without turning— "It was correct."

Then he's gone. Nyra looks at me. Cassian looks at me. I look at them. "What."

Cassian shakes his head. "Nothing."

Traitors.

The afternoon belongs to routes. Not training routes.

Security routes. The Council has finally responded to Nyra's theory. Not officially hers, of course. Publicly, the new measures are called transitional coverage protocols. Which sounds considerably less alarming than: People keep vanishing while moving between places. The changes are immediate. Every corridor connecting major buildings gets patrol coverage.

Village streets are divided into sectors. Watch posts shift from entrances to pathways. Students traveling between classes move in assigned groups. Even stairwells have observers during high-traffic periods.

Nyra watches two wardkeepers reposition near the eastern path. "They listened."

I glance toward her. "Surprised?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Institutions rarely enjoy being told they were watching the wrong thing." Fair.

We retreat to the library after lunch. Cassian brings four maps. Nyra brings everything else. I bring coffee.

Apparently I've become useful. We spread the four disappearance reports across the table. Jonas. Elara. Lysa. Mara. Nyra circles the transitions again. "Jonas leaving The Place."

"Assuming he left." Cassian corrects.

"Fine." She adds a question mark. "Elara closing her shop. Lysa moving between ward markers. Mara moving between kitchen and pantry."

I look at the page. "None were settled."

Nyra nods. "Exactly."

Cassian leans closer. "So opportunity isn't isolation."

"Maybe not."

"It's movement." I say.

Nyra doesn't answer immediately. She writes it anyway. TRANSITION? Question mark. Always a question mark.

"What does movement change?" Cassian asks.

"Attention." I answer. Nyra looks up. I continue.