The knock on the door wasn't loud.
But it was enough.
Three sharp knocks.
Precise.
Adara opened her eyes instantly.
There was no confusion. No startle. Just that second when the body remembers where it is… and who it is now.
The room was dim. The fire had been reduced to glowing embers.
Beside her, Karan didn't move.
He was fast asleep.
The knock was repeated.
Three times.
Adara was already sitting up.
"Open up," a voice said from the other side.
Caelum.
Adara got up silently. She didn't bother turning on any more light. She didn't ask the time.
It wasn't necessary.
She quickly put on her dark training clothes, adjusted the straps, tied her hair back. All in silence, with movements more precise than days before.
Before opening the door, she glanced once at Karan.
He remained asleep.
For a moment, she considered waking him.
She didn't.
She opened the door.
Caelum was there, fully equipped.
"Five minutes," he said.
No more.
Adara nodded.
She closed it.
Five minutes later, she stepped out.
Caelum looked her up and down.
"It took you four."
"I'll get better."
"I hope so."
They began to walk.
Not through the main corridors.
Along side routes. Narrower. Quieter.
"Where are we going?" Adara asked.
"You walk," Caelum replied.
Silence.
They descended stairs Adara hadn't seen before. They crossed an iron gate that wasn't guarded… at least not visibly.
The air changed.
Colder.
Harder.
"Is this a mission?" she tried again.
"You walk," he repeated.
It wasn't rude.
It was standard procedure.
Adara stopped asking questions.
But she didn't stop observing.
She counted turns.
Doors.
Time.
When they stepped outside, the city was still half asleep. The sky was that gray spot before dawn.
There was no market noise.
Only footsteps.
Distant.
Controlled.
They walked for several minutes.
Without speaking.
Until Caelum finally spoke:
"Now, yes."
Adara turned her head slightly.
"It's not a glorious mission," he continued. "There are no spectators. No recognition."
She liked that better.
"So, what is it?"
Caelum stopped.
In front of them, a street narrower than usual. Dark. Seemingly closed off.
"It's cleaning."
Adara didn't answer.
"Someone is testing our internal boundaries," he said. "They don't attack directly. They move around. They observe. They assess."
Adara understood.
"And we respond."
"No," Caelum corrected. "We prevent them from thinking they can keep doing it."
That was different.
Colder.
More calculated.
"What do I do?" she asked.
Caelum looked at her for the first time since they left.
"Nothing… until I tell you."
A sound.
Behind.
Footsteps.
Adara didn't turn around.
"Three," she said softly.
Caelum smiled slightly.
"Good."
The shadows moved.
Three figures blocked the exit to the street.
Another appeared behind them.
Four.
Adara felt her body preparing.
But she didn't move.
"Now," Caelum said.
The first one attacked.
Fast.
Direct.
Adara reacted—
but this time it wasn't pure instinct.
She remembered.
Breathing.
Movement.
She didn't block head-on.
She deflected.
The impact didn't break her.
That was already progress.
Another attacker lunged at her.
More aggressively.
Adara took a step back, gauging the distance. Her hand went to her weapon…
and stopped.
Don't improvise.
So she didn't draw it.
She moved.
She dodged.
She waited.
The moment came with a mistake from her opponent.
A turn too wide.
Adara moved in.
A short strike.
Precise.
The man stepped back, surprised.
Not defeated.
But shaken.
Caelum, beside her, was something else entirely.
Absolute efficiency.
Every movement was purposeful.
No excess.
No emotion.
"Control," he said as he disarmed one of them. "Not speed."
Adara listened.
She applied it.
When the next attack came, she didn't react faster.
She reacted better.
The fight didn't last long.
It never did.
Two on the ground.
One wounded.
The last one…
fled.
Adara took a half-step to follow him.
"No," Caelum ordered.
She stopped.
Breathing.
But steady.
"Why let him go?" she asked.
Caelum watched the direction he escaped.
"Because now she's going to tell what happened."
Adara understood immediately.
"And that's the message."
"Exactly."
Silence.
Then Caelum looked at the fallen.
"What do you see?"
Adara approached.
She observed.
Clothing without insignia.
Functional weapons.
Trained movements… but not refined.
"They're not a House," she said.
"No," Caelum confirmed. "But they work for someone."
Adara looked up.
"Obsidian?"
"Maybe."
A pause.
"Maybe not."
That was worse.
Caelum turned.
"We're leaving."
They walked back.
The sun was beginning to rise.
The city was waking up.
As if nothing had happened.
"You didn't break," Caelum finally said.
Adara looked at him.
"I didn't win."
"That wasn't the objective."
That concept was still new to her.
"So what was it?"
Caelum glanced at her.
"To see if you survive outside our walls."
A silence.
"So?"
Caelum didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"Today, yes."
Adara exhaled slowly.
No relief.
Record.
When they returned to the fortress