The margin required placement.
It was not enough to know how much could be lost.The system needed to decide where.
The question did not appear in a meeting.
It emerged in schedules.
A revised routing table circulated midmorning. It looked identical to the previous version, save for small changes in priority marks that only clerks noticed.
Upper wards retained direct access.Central routes remained reinforced.Peripheral streets were downgraded.
The language was neutral.
Resource flow optimized under constrained conditions.
No one objected.
At the depots, loads were reassigned.
Not removed.Redistributed.
Stone for the southern quarter was split. Half rerouted. Half delayed. Timber shipments were reduced by weight rather than count, preserving appearances while lowering capacity.
The numbers balanced.
That mattered.
At the infirmary, linen distribution was adjusted.
Not announced.Updated.
Wards closer to the records hall received full allotment. Outlying stations were issued revised counts marked temporary.
The surgeon noticed.
He said nothing.
He began cutting cloth smaller.
A notice followed.
Internal.Brief.
Scarcity must be managed deliberately to avoid disruption.
The phrase managed deliberately was underlined.
It implied choice.
At a storage office near the river, a clerk hesitated over a request.
It was correctly filed. Properly stamped. Late.
He compared it to the revised table.
The ward it served had been moved down two levels.
He set the request aside.
By afternoon, similar decisions had been made elsewhere.
Not coordinated.Consistent.
Guards at markers adjusted their posture. They waved through carts whose seals matched the updated priorities. Others were turned back without explanation.
"Tomorrow," they were told.
Tomorrow was not scheduled.
He carried updated route sheets between offices.
He noticed the pattern only because he walked all of them.
Movement tightened inward.
The city's center grew efficient.The edges grew patient.
At a food depot in the lower quarter, a delivery arrived late.
The clerk checked the seal, then the table.
"This is allocated elsewhere," he said.
"But this ward hasn't received—" the porter began.
The clerk shook his head. "Not today."
The porter stood there for a moment, then nodded and left with the cart still half-loaded.
No report was filed.
At dusk, a small crowd gathered near a downgraded junction.
Not protesting.Waiting.
A guard approached and spoke quietly. The crowd thinned without argument.
No one was arrested.
That mattered.
A summary circulated that evening.
It noted improved efficiency in prioritized zones. It acknowledged delays elsewhere and classified them as managed exposure.
The term appeared twice.
No explanation followed.
At the southern wall, the redistributed stone was set carefully. Bracing held where it had been reinforced. Adjacent sections showed new hairline fractures where weight had been shifted.
The wall remained standing.
That was recorded as success.
He passed through the infirmary corridor on an errand just before nightfall.
A nurse folded cloth at a small table, her movements precise.
"Count's off again," she said to no one in particular.
Another nurse glanced at the ledger. "We'll adjust."
"How?"
"We'll see."
The ledger was closed.
Outside, rain began to fall.
Not hard. Not enough to cause alarm.
Water pooled in lower streets where drainage had not been prioritized. Men stepped around it when they could. When they could not, they went through.
No one complained.
By morning, the allocation tables had been updated again.
Not visibly.Incrementally.
The margins shifted.
Loss had been given a place to settle.
And once placed, it stopped looking like loss at all.