Two voices carried from the narrow side room off the main hall.
The first man kept his tone low, measured, the way people did when they knew the walls had ears. "He asked again this morning. Same question. How the human fits into the structure."
The second man leaned against the wall, arms folded, his reply just as careful. "And what did you tell him?"
"The truth. That the structure was built around the human from the start."
A short pause followed. The kind that happened when both sides understood more than they were willing to say out loud.
The first man continued, "Some of the others are starting to notice the pattern. They remember how the initial orders came down. No coincidence. No random encounter. Everything was timed."
The second man gave a single nod. "Timed because it had to be. Bloodlines like that don't appear by chance."
