The first arrivals were only the beginning.
Once Aurelian stepped down from the platform, the reception hall returned almost immediately to movement.
The applause faded, the terminals lit up again, the screening officers resumed their work, and the first groups were guided toward their assigned corridors in neat lines.
Engineers went one way, medical staff another, and administrators were directed toward a temporary command office where Astercourt had already prepared enough instructions to make even trained officials look cautious.
Aurelian watched it all for a while without speaking.
There was something strange about seeing so many people arrive in a place that had once felt almost painfully thin.
Larkspur Haven had always had people, of course, but after the plague and the invasion, everything had felt stretched.
Every worker mattered. Every medic was overloaded. Every security patrol was too small for the area it had to cover.
