The observatory deck filled slowly through the late afternoon, the particular unhurried gathering of people who knew they had time rather than urgency to work with.
Rama arrived first with Sekar, the two of them finding the same spot they'd occupied countless times across seven years—the railing overlooking Singapore's skyline, the specific angle that had witnessed everything from convergence crisis grief to consciousness integration wonder to the quiet accumulated weight of hundreds of ordinary evenings between extraordinary ones.
Nakamura arrived with Jin-ho, the engagement three weeks old now and still carrying the particular brightness of recent significant commitment. Jin-ho had grown comfortable enough with Coalition's stranger gatherings that entity manifestation signatures appearing at the perimeter no longer produced even momentary hesitation.
