"What does it say?" Sekar's voice carried a controlled edge, the specific tightness of someone bracing for something she couldn't yet see.
Rama read the notification again, hoping the words might resolve into something less alarming on a second pass. They didn't.
"Bloodline confirmed," he said quietly. "It's connecting her to the First Ember. Not just proximity. Something inherited."
Sekar went very still, her grip on his shoulder tightening. "Inherited from what, Rama? From you?"
"I don't know yet. The System's never explained its own logic in seven years. I don't expect it to start now, when it matters most."
Wirasena, watching their exchange without understanding the specific words but reading the alarm plainly enough, leaned forward with careful urgency.
"Something has happened," he said. "Tell me."
