Chapter 93: The Weave of Watchfulness
The fortnight of Alaric's deadline passed in a state of heightened, silent tension. No white flag was raised on the headland. No red one either. The family made their decision not with a signal, but with a deepening of their own routines. They chose, unanimously, to ignore the offer. To refuse to play the game on the board he had laid out. Their answer was the continued, visible rhythm of their lives: wood smoke, repaired fences, the laughter of a child carried on the sea wind. It was a statement written in the language of the everyday.
