Lyra found them at hour fourteen during a dwell period on the eleventh marker.
She came in from the northern tree line with Liora two steps just behind her, the glass ledger already open in her hands. She sat on a root with the ledger across her knees and didn't explain the circuit deviation. Just pointed at the board projection she'd been building since the hour-twelve update.
Vane's chest tightened. Lyra didn't deviate from circuit models without reason. When she showed up mid-evaluation, it meant something significant had changed.
"The southern migration is happening faster than the model predicted," she said. "Eleven pairs moved north between hour ten and hour twelve. I expected six to eight. The fast pairs depleted themselves more than I modeled. The early southern engagements were longer and more expensive than historical first-hour data suggested."
