Power can absorb a lot.
Anger becomes noise.Care becomes wellness.Standing becomes discussion.
What it cannot absorb is competence without permission.
The morning arrived without ceremony. No announcements. No soft music. No circles waiting to be filled.
That absence was deliberate.
Power was done guiding for now.
It was observing.
Arjun felt it the moment we stepped into the street."They pulled back," he said."Not like before."
"Yes," I replied."This isn't retreat. This is measurement."
✦
The canopy still glowed—but dimmer, less central. The facilitators were present, but fewer. They didn't initiate conversations. They didn't redirect movement.
They watched.
So did others.
When power stops narrating, it starts counting.
✦
People moved immediately.
No warming up.No checking in.
A woman redirected supplies instinctively. A group split tasks without discussion. Someone rerouted foot traffic around a bottleneck before it formed.
Efficient.Quiet.Unremarkable.
