CHAPTER 112 — THE SPACE LEFT BEHIND
The announcement did not come with drama.
There was no press conference, no carefully staged address, no grand statement meant to soften the impact. Elena refused spectacle. If absence was to teach anything, it had to arrive without performance.
The notice was brief. Precise. Public.
Effective immediately, Elena would be stepping back from all advisory participation beyond the narrow frameworks already established. No expansions. No exceptions. No transitional authority delegated in her name.
The structure would proceed without her.
That was all.
The response was immediate—and uneven.
Within minutes, private channels flooded with restrained concern. Within an hour, institutions released statements reaffirming stability. By midday, speculation had hardened into analysis, analysis into unease.
By evening, the silence was louder than any backlash.
