External POV
But the delay registered.
Not as an error.
As variance.
Across the mountain, similar micro-lags appeared. Not synchronized.
Not patterned enough to flag immediately.
But wolves felt it.
The relief that had settled after Catherine's consolidation - the ease of not having to question outcomes -began to thin. It was replaced not with fear, but with something more corrosive.
Unease.
Because unease suggests awareness without explanation.
At the logistics hub, a junior coordinator noticed that supply prioritization algorithms had begun recalculating more often than usual. Each recalculation produced a valid outcome. Each outcome differed slightly from the last.
"Is something wrong?" she asked her supervisor.
The supervisor checked the dashboard. Everything was green.
"No," he said after a pause that lasted half a breath too long. "It's adjusting."
To what? she almost asked.
She didn't.
Adjustment had become a reassuring word.
