By the time Eli heard the market described as saved, its defenders were still carrying a replacement support into position.
The first barrier held. That was true. The breach had not reached the residential street. That was true too. It did not mean the crew could walk away from the pressure now pressing against their line. Rook’s hunters arrived with equipment the local commander accepted after checking where it would sit. A medic followed the cleared lane to the injured people. Residents left the busiest crossings in groups small enough that nobody had to be pushed through a doorway.
The local commander’s report named all of that before she gave the result people would repeat.
“The warning gave us time.”
The forum carried it. So did the ordinary network. On the street outside the chamber, people stopped arguing about whether the voice had named a real threat. They began asking whether it had named the next one.
A governor from another district contacted Rook’s liaison while the market crew was still resetting its line. Her defenses had remained outside the new connection. She had asked for an independent assessment first. Now she asked what would be required to join.
The liaison did not mock her earlier caution. He sent the available terms and promised a technical contact. She looked at the report of the market and thought of her own streets, where the first sign of danger might otherwise be a wall already coming apart. Delay had acquired a visible…
