Being heard is never free.
It only feels that way before the invoice arrives.
The city woke into a careful awareness—not fear, not excitement, but the sober understanding that words now carried weight that could bend outcomes. Speaking no longer vanished into air. It stayed. It traveled. It reshaped behavior.
And anything that reshapes behavior attracts attention.
✦
Arjun felt it as we stepped into the main corridor—voices lower, pauses longer, glances sharper.
"They're counting now," he said.
"Yes," I replied."Who speaks. When. And what moves afterward."
✦
The other Ishaan aligned, voice calm and exact.
The cost of being heard is scrutiny, he said.Power listens hardest when it feels challenged.
✦
By midmorning, the first price was paid.
A small team—quiet, efficient—found their access window shortened without explanation. Not cut. Shortened. Enough to complicate planning. Enough to force adjustment.
No announcement followed.
No reason offered.
✦
