POV: Ayla

Three months after the ceremony, the compound has learned how to sound like a home.

The elevated rotations are gone. The new locks remain, but they open for ordinary reasons now—shift changes, deliveries, the quiet traffic of a territory that is no longer waiting for the next demonstration. Ryker is off the restricted list and back on the outer loops, though the medic still gives him a look when he takes the longer route. Caius runs the consolidated administration with the same precision he once applied to keeping attachment off the balance sheet. Zane has turned the regional intercept desk into something that almost looks like a permanent...