Nyx brought the first warning before anyone had finished breakfast.
She came through the doorway already reaching for her boots.
"Something changed at the crossing."
That was enough to quiet the room.
Vane looked up from the cup in his hand. Ashe had already stopped eating.
Nyx sat only long enough to pull one boot on.
"I've been keeping half an ear on Verrin's Landing since we came through. Habit, mostly. I didn't expect it to matter."
She tied the boot hard.
"It matters now."
Ashe stood.
"How sure are you?"
Nyx looked at her.
"Sure enough that I woke before dawn, checked once, decided I didn't trust the first read, and checked again before coming here."
Her voice was stripped of its usual dryness.
"I don't scare easily anymore."
A pause.
"This scared me."
Vane set his cup down.
"The ring?"
"No. Traffic."
Nyx pulled on the second boot.
"More movement than before. Faster. The crossing has a rhythm when extraction crews rotate through. This isn't that rhythm."
