The next morning, I woke with a fierce determination. Ezra was right, we couldn't give up. But we also couldn't keep fighting the same way. We needed a new strategy.
"What if we stop trying to work within Aldric's restrictions?" I proposed during an emergency leadership meeting. "What if we challenged the oversight itself?"
"On what grounds?" Drake asked.
"On the grounds that it's unjust," I said. "The Council placed us under oversight based on Thorne's accusations, most of which were either fabricated or the result of his schemes. We were victims of his manipulation, not perpetrators of crimes. The oversight is punishment for being attacked."
"The Council won't see it that way," Helena warned. "They'll say you violated protocol by entering Silverwood territory."
