Chapter 126: The New Normal
The world did not wake with a thunderclap. The healing of the First Song was not an event, but a shift in atmosphere a deepening of focus, a quietening of background anxiety. In the weeks that followed the return from the deep, the people of the network found themselves breathing more easily, thinking more clearly. The constant, low-grade effort of holding onto meaning relaxed into the simple, profound joy of inhabiting it.
