The notice arrived the same way the last one had — pinned to the barracks door sometime before morning rotation. No clerk, no knock. Just a single sheet of Academy parchment, slightly damp at the corners, with the official seal pressed into the bottom corner.
Drake pulled it down and read it twice before anyone else got a look.
NORTH ANNEX ROTATION — STATUS: INCOMPLETE
Completion pending records reconciliation.
Pending Audit Review: Squad Seven's external field status is amended. External rotations require direct supervision until the file is closed.
He handed it to Xander.
Xander read it. Then read it again. Then passed it to Kara.
Kara read it, frowned, and handed it back to Drake. "What does that mean?"
"It means the file isn't closed," Xander said.
"I can read the paper. What does it mean?"
"It means we don't get to operate on our own until the Academy finishes processing something."
"Processing what?"
"Us."
---
They went to the administrative desk to confirm it, because that was the only place to confirm it.
The clerk on duty was a different one this time — older, slower, didn't recognize them. He checked the notice against a ledger, then checked the ledger against a second ledger.
"Annex rotation incomplete. Status amended pending review. You'll be assigned supervised rotations until the file closes."
"Why was this changed now?" Drake asked.
The clerk checked the ledger again.
"The audit."
"The audit?"
"Your Annex records were flagged when the review began."
"They've been sitting there since we came back."
"Yes."
Drake waited.
"Nobody was reviewing them before," the clerk said.
Kara leaned on the counter. "So we're being punished for being unresolved."
"You're being supervised because you're unresolved."
"That's the same thing."
"It isn't."
"It feels like the same thing."
The clerk didn't argue. He made a note on his slate and slid the original notice across the counter for them to keep.
"You'll still rotate. You'll still train. You'll just have someone with you for external assignments until the file's clean."
Kara opened her mouth. Drake put a hand on her shoulder.
"Understood," he said.
They left.
---
Back in the barracks, Xander sat down on his bunk and looked at the notice again.
"They didn't change the report," he said.
James glanced over. "What?"
"The report still says what happened. The Unassigned filing. The timber-hound. All of it. They didn't say any of it was wrong."
"So?"
"So they've changed our status without changing what we did." He set the paper down. "The report is accurate. They just don't know what to do with it."
Kara dropped onto the floor and stared at the ceiling. "So we're being punished for being right."
"We're being supervised because we're unresolved," Xander said.
"That's the same thing."
"It isn't."
"It feels like the same thing."
Xander didn't argue. He just folded the notice along its original creases and set it on the table.
---
The next morning, their rotation assignment came through before dawn.
SQUAD SEVEN — SUPERVISED ROTATION
Escort detail. Lower western perimeter. Report to Proctor Halden at second bell.
Drake read it, folded it, and put it in his pocket.
"Who's Halden?" Kara asked.
"Never heard of him."
They got dressed. They ate. They walked to the western perimeter.
Proctor Halden was waiting for them at the gate — a broad-shouldered man in his forties with the kind of quiet, settled posture that suggested he'd been doing escort detail for a long time and had no intention of making it interesting.
"Squad Seven?"
"Yes."
"You're with me today. Standard perimeter walk. Stay in visual range. Don't wander."
Drake nodded. "Understood."
Halden looked at them for a moment — really looked at them — and then turned and started walking.
They followed.
---
The perimeter walk was uneventful. Halden didn't talk. He didn't ask questions. He didn't try to direct them. He just walked the route and let them walk it with him.
At the halfway point, the group passed a stretch of retaining wall that had shifted slightly since the last rain. The top course of stone had separated from the lower course — just a few inches, not enough to fall, but enough to notice.
Halden didn't stop.
Xander did.
"Sir."
Halden glanced back. "What?"
"The wall's moved. The mortar's failed at the top course. If it rains again, the upper stones will slide."
Halden looked at the wall. Looked at Xander. Looked at the wall again.
"How can you tell?"
"The gap. The discoloration under the top course. The way the water's draining off the base instead of the face."
Halden was quiet for a moment. Then he pulled a small slate from his belt and made a note.
"Noted," he said. "Keep walking."
They kept walking.
---
At the end of the rotation, Halden dismissed them without comment.
Drake waited until they were out of earshot before speaking.
"He didn't ask for a methodology."
Xander shrugged. "We didn't give one."
"But he noted it."
"Because it was obvious."
Kara frowned. "So?"
"So we just did the thing that got us the notice in the first place. And this time, someone wrote it down."
Nobody said anything for a moment.
Then they walked back to the barracks.