Population density, resource allocation, governance structure—she was cataloging problems and solutions simultaneously, her centuries of leadership experience engaging automatically with the new environment, the way a craftsperson's hands engage automatically with unfamiliar materials.
She was excited.
The word felt strange attached to her own internal state—she hadn't been excited in a very long time, genuinely excited rather than temporarily relieved—but that was accurately what this was.
There's so much that can be done here.
She didn't say any of that yet. There was a question she needed to ask first, and the answer would determine everything else.
"Can anyone living here leave?" she asked directly. "Go to the outside world—if they simply want to explore, or for any other reason?"
Leon's expression shifted slightly—not to uncertainty but to something more considered, like someone organizing an answer that had more components than a simple yes or no.
