(Vol: 04)
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Far below, Miryam's cocoon hummed.
Far away, in the dark between banners, a rankless woman smiled up at a mountain that did not yet know what had been traded for one more day of breath.
Kai lay on his stone pallet, staring at the ceiling, trying to decide which part of his body hurt least and whether he should be worried about that one in particular. Usually if something did not hurt after a battle, it meant he had not used it, or it had fallen off.
The system's last notification still hung faintly in the back of his mind like a ghost chalk mark.
[Ding! External war field variables updated. Hostile army stance: adjusting. Vanguard disposition: reduced. Flag status predicted: parley possible. Advisory: opportunity for nonlethal resolution increased by 23 percent.]
Nonlethal resolution. Ikea somewhere in the dark. Vorak remeasuring his ledgers. Princesses asleep in borrowed rooms. Seven hundred drones too stubborn to fall over.
He exhaled and almost relaxed.
