Reason doesn't fail all at once.
It erodes—sentence by sentence—until one day it stops being a bridge and becomes a wall.
The city woke already braced.
Not anxious.Not defiant.
Prepared.
You could see it in the way people arrived earlier than scheduled but didn't line up. In the way conversations happened before coordinators reached earshot. In the way hands stayed free—not clenched, not raised—just ready.
Arjun noticed the stillness first."They're not waiting anymore," he said.
"No," I replied."They're holding space."
✦
The coordinators arrived together this time.
That mattered.
When power stops experimenting, it consolidates.
They stood beneath the canopy, not spreading out, not blending in. The microphone returned. So did the posture—the squared shoulders, the practiced calm of people who believed they were about to be misunderstood.
The girl murmured,"That's not reasonable."
"No," I said."That's preparation."
✦
The announcement was short.
