The Emergency Imperial Conclave met under a sky that looked exactly the same as always.
High above the Core World, the artificial stars were still shining in their perfect, fake lines. The capital was still humming with its usual controlled order. Markets opened on time, and transport ships came and went like clockwork.
But the feeling in the air was totally different now. Grief does not usually scream at you across an empire; instead, it just settles down like heavy dust. It gets hard. It watches everything.
