The second message from Elara arrived four days after the ultimatum.
I had not expected another communication before the two-week window closed. She had said what she needed to say. The terms were clear. The deadline was set. Additional contact before I had indicated a decision seemed inconsistent with how she operated, and so when the notification appeared on the clean device on a Friday evening while I was reviewing the week's correspondence in my room, I felt, before I read it, a specific quality of unease that I had learned to take seriously.
People who operated the way Elara operated did not break their own patterns without reason.
I opened the message.
