They walked for a long time after the riders disappeared.
No one spoke at first.
The plains felt different now—
not empty,
but open in a way that didn't ask permission.
Sera broke the silence.
"My heart's still racing," she admitted.
"But… nothing happened."
Kael felt it too.
Because nothing was demanded.
The Seer glanced back toward the ridge.
"Empire scouts are trained for reactions," he said.
"Fear. Flight. Defiance."
Lira nodded slowly.
"They don't know what to do with choice."
The sun dipped lower, heat easing as the air cooled.
They reached a line of low stones old boundary markers, half-buried and ignored.
Lira paused beside one.
"I can feel it again," she said quietly.
Kael felt it immediately.
Not pursuit.
Attention—
spread thin.
"They're trying to decide," Jon said.
"Yes," the Seer replied.
"Without clear response, command slows."
Lira sat on one of the stones, looking out over the plain.
"When we first ran," she said,
"everything felt urgent. Like we were always late."
Kael felt the memory stir.
Now time feels wider.
"That's the space between commands," the Seer said.
"It's where control weakens."
They made camp there, under the open sky.
No fire.
Just stars.
As darkness deepened, Lira felt small pulses again—not fear, not warning.
Relief.
Elsewhere, people felt the same quiet.
Not victory.
Breathing room.
She closed her eyes and rested her palms on the earth.
"We're not pushing anymore," she whispered.
"We're letting go."
Kael felt the truth of it.
And the world is learning to hold itself.
Far away, the heir stared at maps that no longer showed movement clearly.
Orders sent out did not return cleanly.
Units waited for instructions that never arrived.
He realized something then.
Control was not being attacked.
It was being outgrown.
He leaned back slowly, unsettled.
"They're not fighting me," he said to the empty room.
"They're making me unnecessary."
On the plains, Lira opened her eyes and looked at the stars.
Between one breath and the next—
The space grew larger.
And in that space.
Choice learned how to stay.