Kael didn't stay in the settlement overnight.
Not because he was being hunted—he wasn't—but because places like this accumulated attention the longer one remained still. He left before dusk, following a trade path that curved away from the banners and into open land.
By the time the settlement lights dimmed behind him, the pressure had faded to a background presence. Not gone. Just… settled.
That was preferable.
The road stretched wide and empty ahead, bordered by low stone markers half-buried in the dirt. Wind moved freely here, carrying distant sounds without obstruction. It felt honest in a way controlled spaces never did.
Kael adjusted his pace and walked.
Hours passed.
He encountered others along the road—travelers, merchants, a small group escorting supplies. None stopped him. None questioned him. But a few slowed when they passed, eyes lingering a second too long, hands tightening on straps or reins.
Not recognition.
Instinct.
People sensed imbalance long before they named it.
Kael ignored the looks.
He stopped only when the sky darkened fully and the road narrowed into a shallow ravine. He chose a spot away from the path, near a cluster of rocks that broke line of sight, and settled in without ceremony.
No fire.
No noise.
He sat with his back against stone and let his breathing slow.
The hum returned faintly—distant, steady. It no longer pulled. It observed.
Kael opened his eyes.
Far above, unseen by those below, something shifted.
Not movement.
Attention.
In a structure overlooking the settlement he had left behind, a woman stood at a high window, hands folded behind her back. No banners marked the room. No guards waited at the door.
She hadn't moved when reports reached her.
She hadn't spoken when names were offered.
Only when the description ended—unarmed, adaptive, unregistered—did she react.
"A deviation," she said quietly.
Beside her, a man hesitated. "Do we act?"
"Not yet."
She turned slightly, gaze angled toward the road beyond the settlement.
"Things like that reveal themselves when pressed too hard," she continued. "Let it move."
The man nodded once.
Elsewhere, far from the settlement and its watchers, Kael rose and resumed walking.
He didn't know he had been classified.
He didn't need to.
The world didn't yet understand what it was reacting to.
But it had begun to feel it.
And that was always the first mistake.