They did not end the session.
They reframed it.
That was the first tell.
No alarms.
No removal.
No enforcement stepping in to drag narrative back under control.
Instead, the gray-haired administrator stood from the front row and applauded once.
Slow.
Measured.
The sound echoed harder than Eli's strike had.
"An instructive deviation," he said, voice calm as polished steel. "The participant has demonstrated controlled endurance under provocation."
He didn't look at me.
He looked at the room.
That was the second tell.
The story wasn't about me.
It was about what they would say it meant.
The overhead display shifted again.
STABILITY INDEX: ACCEPTABLE
SELF-REGULATION CONFIRMED
PATHWAY CONTINUES
Self-regulation.
They translated refusal into discipline.
Elegant.
Dangerous.
I felt Lucas's tension behind me like a coiled wire. Raisel didn't move, but her gaze shifted to the administrator—not hostile, just measuring.
