Adam sat in the academy library's restricted section, ostensibly researching historical military campaigns for his Warfare Tactics elective. In reality, he was thinking about infrastructure.
The way things were versus the way they had to be moving forward.
They were being marginalized. That was clear as day. Equipment reservations mysteriously unavailable. Merit point transactions delayed without explanation. Training partners suddenly too busy to work with outpost recruits. Resource access denied through a thousand small administrative inconveniences that never quite violated explicit rules but accumulated into systematic exclusion.
They couldn't get certain things needed to allow their stay at Sparkshire to run unimpeded. They had to outsource. Beg favors from neutral students. Pay inflated prices to merchants who recognized desperation. Work twice as hard for half the access their noble-backed peers received automatically.
It was unsustainable.
