Linda did not wait for a private room.
She walked them off the platform and into a side corridor that belonged to the association's local monitoring office. The door sealed behind the five of them with a soft, expensive sound. Origin barriers hummed in the walls. The air grew heavier, more controlled.
Linda turned and faced them fully. Her silver-grey eyes moved from Logan to Liora and stayed there.
"Two years," she said. "We knew a pure light affinity was living in the lower districts. We left her alone because forcing a high-purity source into the open usually breaks them or drives them into the arms of people we would rather not strengthen. You have undone that caution in less than a day."
Liora stood straight, silver hair still faintly dusted from the housing block, blue eyes steady. "I was never yours to leave alone."
"No," Linda agreed. "You were the city's quiet problem. Now you are an active variable."
