The first policy clash did not look like war.
It looked like paperwork.
Which, Mira had learned, was often more dangerous.
She stood at the head of the Reconstruction Council chamber, sunlight cutting across polished oak and glass. The room hummed with quiet conversation as members shuffled briefing folders.
Across town, three kilometers and a philosophical divide away, Adrian sat in the Stability Coalition's strategy room, reading the same proposal from the opposite angle.
The proposal was simple in language.
Not in consequence.
The Acceleration Act.
Mira's initiative.
A sweeping policy designed to fast-track regional governance reform—streamline outdated bureaucratic layers, redistribute funding autonomy to local councils, digitize oversight systems within twelve months.
Twelve months.
That was the point.
Urgency.
Momentum.
Repair before rot deepened.
In the Coalition room, someone cleared their throat.
