Not everyone learns.
Some people don't misunderstand restraint.
They reject it.
The city woke into a different tension than before—sharper, colder, carrying intent instead of curiosity. The probes were gone. The negotiations had quieted. The polite misreadings had ended.
What remained was belief.
Belief that power only answers to pressure.
✦
Arjun felt it as soon as the first signal arrived.
"That's not testing," he said.
"That's positioning."
"Yes," I replied.
"And positioning precedes force."
✦
The other Ishaan aligned, voice calm and exact.
Those who believe in force don't ask questions, he said.
They prepare leverage.
✦
By midmorning, the pattern became clear.
Dependencies were tightened deliberately. Interfaces that had been flexible were suddenly rigid. Shared resources were redirected—not denied outright, but constrained just enough to create friction.
No messages explained it.
None needed to.
✦
Arjun's jaw tightened.
"They're choking pathways."
