The city of Ires Vale woke up in layers. First came the bells, then a low chime from the eastern towers to mark the passing of the third watch, answered by thinner from the river gates. It was as if each district was agreeing that the morning had arrived.
Kairo listened from his balcony in the temple's hostel, his hands resting on cold stone. Below him, the streets began to operate, vendors arranging their stocks in symmetrical rows, water carriers testing seals twice before lifting their loads. The priests in grey robes walking measured paths, careful not to cross paths with each other. "Efficiency disguised as peace". He had not slept since the he went into the archive. Every time he closed his eyes, he tablets, margins and symbols, repeating like a language. The archive clung to him, it recalibrated his thinking. Once he had noticed the pacing, it was everywhere.
A shout rose from the lower ward of the city, Kairo leaned forward as a small crowd had gathered near the public well, bodies angled inward. At the center, a woman knelt beside a child who was lying on the stone. The boy's limbs twitched erratically, breath shallow and uneven. "A seizure", Kairo thought, or a fever in the making. A priest stood nearby, hands clasped, expression unchanging. He did not kneel, he just watched. Kairo was already moving, the stairs took him down two at a time. He felt a familiar pull for magic, the resistance like air pushing back against his intent. He adjusted instinctively, not forcing but carefully around the obstruction.
By the time he reached the crowd, the woman's voice had grown soft, "Please", not to anyone in particular, "He was fine this morning". The priest raised his hand, "Order", he said gently, "We are observing". "Observing what!?", Kairo snapped. The priest turned startled, his attention turned to Kairo's hands, as if expecting to see marks of authority. After finding none, his posture returned to what it was. "Protocol, intervention is pending assessment". Kairo knelt beside the boy, sweat soaked the child's hair, his skin burned under Kairo's fingers. "Too hot, too fast, whatever this was, waiting would only make it worse", Kairo thought to himself.
"I can help", Kairo said, the priest hesitated, "Do you have permission?", Kairo didn't even look up, "No", "That is a problem", the priest replied. Kairo closed his eyes and reached out for the boy's hand. His magic resisted, but he had already anticipated it, he shaped the spell to be smaller, focused on stabilizing the fever rather than curing. A cooling lattice, gentle and precise. The kind of thing he'd cast a hundred times without thinking. The lattice formed and held, the boy's breathing evened slightly. The twitching eased, a murmur ripple through the crowd, hope, fragile and sharp. Then the lattice began to unravel, like it withdrew.
Kairo felt the pull again, stronger than the last time, a firm but patient reclaiming of the spell. The spell loosened strand by strand, like an invisible hand was dismantling it. It's clear the hand did not approve of the spell. "No!", the lattice vanished, the boy began to convulse sharply, then he went still. For a moment, the world held it's breath. Then the woman screamed, the crowd recoiled, some in horro, others in relief that it wasn't happening to them. The priest lowered his head, "Assessment complete, outcome recorded", Kairo stared at the child, his chest tight, hands shaking, he felt it. The decision that arrived to late to matter, "This was preventable", Kairo said. The priest met his gaze, "It was within the acceptable parameters". Kairo rose slowly "You knew he would die, yet you did nothing", "Unscheduled intervention creates imbalance". Kairo laughs as he jacks the priest by his colar, "He was seven". The priest did not argue.
The crowd dispersed, grief dissolved into routine, the woman and her child were led away by neighbors who spoke in hushed and practical tones, life resumed as normal. Kairo stood alone for a long moment