The eastern command post was not meant to hold a war council.
It had grown into one.
Canvas stretched over timber and rope, reinforced where it could be, patched where it could not. Maps had been nailed to beams and weighed down with daggers at their corners. Messengers came and went without pause, their boots dragging dust and urgency across a floor that had never been meant for either.
Elex stood at the center of it all.
Not seated.
Never seated.
One hand braced against the table, the other moving pieces across a map that had been revised too many times to trust fully. His focus did not waver as Cassian and Kael entered—only shifted, just enough to acknowledge them without breaking the line of thought he was already holding.
"You took your time," Elex said.
It wasn't an accusation.
It didn't need to be.
Cassian stepped forward. "We confirmed before we came."
That drew Elex's attention fully.
Across the tent, Juno looked up.
