The night map read like this: Jameson — mending, cataloguing, and baiting from a position of advantage; Kyle and Eric — tightening lines and keeping supply off manifest; the court — watching and repositioning its questions; Ashlyn — staged and trained, anchored to the village mission until a crisp extraction cue came. Each of them moved in the margin between care and politics, turning small, cautious actions into the only kind of cover that might one day force the shadows into light.

Jameson tracks a carefully staged trail to a frozen observatory, receives Ashlyn’s urgent tethered message, and survives a disguised assassination attempt that leaves a toxin-laced scrape and a troubling access token. At the Golden Kingdom arena Ashlyn demonstrates uncanny containment skill, senses Jameson’s danger mid-drill, and is ordered to finish her mission to a remote village while a quiet “wedge” of watchers is widened around Jameson. Meanwhile Alexander quietly orders a discreet dossier on Ashlyn, setting bureaucratic gears in motion that could turn careful help into political leverage.

Jameson tracks a carefully staged trail to a frozen observatory, receives Ashlyn’s urgent tethered message, and survives a disguised assassination attempt that leaves a toxin-laced scrape and a troubling access token. At the Golden Kingdom arena Ashlyn demonstrates uncanny containment skill, senses Jameson’s danger mid-drill, and is ordered to finish her mission to a remote village while a quiet “wedge” of watchers is widened around Jameson. Meanwhile Alexander quietly orders a discreet dossier on Ashlyn, setting bureaucratic gears in motion that could turn careful help into political leverage.