The training ground changed three days later.
It wasn't a physical shift, but an emotional one that the leaders felt as soon as they stepped into the upper ridge clearing. The frantic, jagged tension of the previous week had smoothed out into something structured and purposeful. Down below, the refugees moved with a new coordination, their fires kept low and their supply lines finally holding steady.
They were surviving smarter, which meant Asarmose had decided it was time to make things harder.
Jones realized the lesson was going to be an ordeal the moment he saw the crowd gathered in the center of the clearing. It wasn't just the usual inner circle. Sila was there, along with Mara, Elara, and several of the older Omegas and Betas who usually stayed in the shadows of the camp.
"No," Jones said, stopping dead in his tracks. "I know that expression on your face, Asarmose. That is the look you get right before you traumatize people academically."
