Dawn arrived without looking like dawn.
Asgard remained covered by heavy clouds, and snow fell in irregular intervals over rooftops, walls, streets, and rails. The factories were already beginning to spit steam, the first trains were warming their engines at the central station, and the outer patrols changed shifts with faces far too serious for that hour. Monica's order had spread during the night: no caravan would travel southeast without authorization, the watchtowers were to observe any unusual beast movement, and the guild had received maximum priority for tracks coming from the desert.
At the mansion, the assembled team was in the training courtyard before the sun even appeared behind the clouds.
