Media drones finally dared to drift closer, their lenses blinking red, green, blue. One caught Arthur's profile against the dulling stone of the basilisk's skull. Another panned across the ward choir, catching tired smiles and the conductor pinching the bridge of her nose with shaking fingers. If the footage went out today, it would change more than morale.
Ian pictured what would happen when the rest of the world saw a man walk into a Calamity and end it without bleeding out in someone's arms. He pictured doctrine meetings in Valdris. He pictured the other continents updating terms that had been carved in cold fear for a century. Calamity as a category had been a ceiling. After today, it might become a task.
Marcus seemed to be thinking along the same lines. He turned to Arthur again. "This will unsettle the world."
"It needs unsettling," Arthur said. "Calamity is not a rank. It's a situation. Treat it like one and it stops owning your language."
