The shift started as they were still in the lower transit.
First it was just little things. The passage they'd taken an hour ago was suddenly requiring a second check. An attendant who had checked their junction without issue suddenly started insisting that Lucian stayed within view. And the route board was suddenly flickering with gentle tracking lines.
Sera was quick to pick up on this. "They are not guiding us anymore. They are counting us."
Rhel had a blank look. "Orasith's people are converting emergency protection into custody language. Quietly. Before the plaza records force them to declare a position in public."
Istra slowed her pace. "So the bargain is already rotting."
"It started rotting the moment Veynar's rank-units hit a council deck under Orasith's temporary mark." They can't be seen to be losing control of the seat which held the contingency. The most politically safe option is to take control of the contingency themselves.
