The shutters had already come down with a dull metallic thud, sealing the store from the street outside. Yet the street itself refused to empty, as if the closing of the shop had only shifted the center of gravity rather than ending the day. One by one, then in clusters, then almost as a quiet crowd, people drifted toward the fenced grounds across from the store.
The Nexus Training Grounds.
The name itself had begun to carry weight in the district, whispered between merchants and clerks, between guards and curious onlookers, and now that weight pulled them in like a tide... they did not resist.
No one had been forced.
No one had been threatened.
And yet when Queen Consort Callista Frost spoke earlier, her voice soft, her words polite, asking them to step outside and give space, everyone understood what lay beneath that gentleness, because in places like this, power rarely needed to raise its voice.
So they followed.
Quietly.
A while later.
