The days after the forum did not explode.
They settled.
That, Aria realized, was more unsettling than backlash. Revolutions burned hot and brief. Settlements lingered, quiet, patient, irreversible.
The city recalibrated in small ways first.
Policy committees reissued mandates with revised language. Departments once insulated by ambiguity requested clarification. Oversight boards, long ceremonial, began scheduling actual reviews.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing cinematic.
Just systems remembering how to function when watched.
Aria observed it from the estate's upper level, a cup of untouched coffee cooling beside her. Screens cycled through data feeds, not alerts, not threats, but behavioral shifts.
Institutions adapting.
Some reluctantly.
Some eagerly.
Some strategically.
Dante joined her without speaking.
He had learned, finally, when silence was not absence but accompaniment.
"They're complying faster than expected," he said.
