Neutrality doesn't shatter.
It slips.
The city didn't wake angry. It woke cautious—like someone testing a bruise to see how much it hurts today. People moved slower than yesterday, not from exhaustion, but from calculation. Every step now carried an invisible question.
Who sees this?
Arjun noticed it in the smallest things."They're looking around before they help," he said.
"Yes," I replied."That's neutrality checking its balance."
✦
The boundaries were still there.
The clipboards.The aligned channels.The polite language that made everything sound optional.
But something new had entered the air.
Expectation.
✦
Midmorning, a facilitator spoke to a mixed group—not softly this time.
"We need to avoid confusion," she said."Please operate within your chosen lane."
Chosen.
As if the lanes had been chosen freely.
✦
A sanctioned volunteer hesitated near an unsanctioned task. The pause stretched long enough to be noticed. Someone coughed. Someone else pretended not to see.
