(Almera POV)
The oasis forum had never been this full.
I could feel it even before I saw it—the weight of bodies, of voices held back, of breath collectively restrained. The city was not shouting. It was waiting.
Romulus walked beside me, his presence steady, his stride unhurried. He did not reach for my hand. He did not shield me with his body. That, more than any gesture, told me what this moment required.
We were not here to hide behind one another.
We were here to stand.
Stone terraces rose in half-circles around the forum, filled with citizens—merchants in sun-worn robes, water bearers with calloused hands, council adjutants standing too stiffly to appear casual. White banners bearing the sigil of the Church of Light hung beside the golden standards of Alessandria, their coexistence uneasy.
I felt the future tighten.
Not sharply. Not violently.
Like cloth drawn slowly through clenched fingers.
This is it, I thought.
