The shift in tone was immediate.
What had started as observation became something else entirely.
"You will not use that ability without authorization," the authority figure said.
Kael looked at them, his expression tightening slightly.
"…That's not going to work the way you think it is," he said.
"It will," the figure replied. "Because it must."
Kael let out a quiet breath.
"That's not how this works," he said. "I'm not activating something on purpose. I'm responding to what's there."
"Then you will refrain from responding," the figure said.
Kael shook his head slightly.
"That's not possible."
The authority figure studied him carefully, as though evaluating whether that response was defiance or fact.
"Then we will impose limits," they said.
Lyra stepped forward immediately.
"That is unnecessary," she said.
"It is required," the figure replied.
Kael glanced between them.
"…What kind of limits?" he asked.
The figure raised their hand slightly.
The air shifted.
Kael felt it instantly.
Not pressure.
Constraint.
The familiar sensation he relied on—the moment of alignment—flickered and then dulled, as though something had been placed between him and the field.
Kael's expression sharpened.
"…What did you just do?"
"A temporary restriction," the figure said. "Your interaction with the contract field has been reduced."
Kael tested it instinctively, reaching for that same point of alignment.
It was still there.
But distant.
Muted.
"…That's not good," he said.
"No," Lyra replied.
Kael looked at the authority figure again.
"You just proved something," he said.
The figure did not respond.
Kael continued anyway.
"If you can limit it," he said, "then it's not part of the system."
Silence followed.
For the first time—
The authority figures did not immediately respond.
Kael let out a slow breath.
"…Which means you don't control it either."
That was the real problem.