The first sign was absence.
Aurelia noticed it just after dawn, when the patrol along the eastern ridge failed to rotate. No footsteps. No low exchange of signals. The watchtower light burned steadily without relief, its keeper standing alone far longer than protocol allowed.
"They've pulled people," Mira said quietly.
"Yes," Aurelia replied. "Selective removal."
That was how correction began—not with force, but with subtraction. Pieces quietly lifted from the board until movement itself became uncertain.
Aurelia moved through the inner grounds without escort. No one stopped her. No one acknowledged her. Wolves who once nodded in passing now looked away—not hostile, not fearful.
Careful.
"They're making you untouchable," Mira said. "Which means isolated."
Aurelia felt the truth of it settle. "They're trying to make contact with me costly."
