The session, Morris had confirmed, had been delayed under security protocols.

The observers had been briefed in broad terms, active threat, ongoing investigation, delay until security situation was resolved.

They had agreed without resistance, which suggested they understood that proceeding over a known threat was not something they wanted attached to any decision they made.

The delay was confirmed. The session would not happen today.

Which meant the window the organization had been building toward had closed.

William stood in the student section with Kai on his left and Seraphina on his right and Liam somewhere behind him talking to Marcus about something at normal volume, and watched the ceremony begin.

Headmaster Volmer spoke first — welcoming remarks, acknowledgment of the other academies, the expected institutional language that competitions produced.

He spoke well, which William had come to expect. Whatever Volmer’s failures in anticipating the crisis, he was good at the public-facing parts of administration.

The other headmasters and headmistresses spoke in turn.

The wind-affinity girl from Ironveil who William had identified as the individual combat favorite stood with her team with the easy readiness of someone who had done this before.

William watched the ceremony and watched the crowd and watched the council observer section and watched the positions of the security personnel Morris had repositioned.

At some point during the third speech, Kai said very quietly, without turning his head, "Three o’clock. The pillar."

William didn’t look immediately. He adjusted his posture as though settling his weight and let his gaze move naturally across the crowd.

At the pillar on the right side of the main platform, partially obscured by the positioning of a torch bracket, a figure stood in academy groundskeeper’s clothing.

The clothing was correct.

The posture was not. The posture was the posture of someone who was watching the crowd rather than the ceremony, and watching it with the specific quality of professional surveillance.

Not a groundskeeper.

William kept his gaze moving, not pausing, not signaling that he’d seen anything.

"How many," he said, at the same low volume.

"I’ve identified two," Kai said. "The pillar and the eastern entrance. Both in staff clothing. Both with the wrong attention pattern for their apparent roles."

"Morris," Seraphina said, without moving her lips significantly. "She needs to know."

"She’s seen them," Kai said. "Watch her security team."

William watched. And after a moment saw what Kai was pointing to — subtle repositioning.

Two of Morris’s plainclothes security personnel, moving through the crowd with the natural drift of people shifting for comfort, ending in positions that bracketed both figures Kai had identified.

Morris had seen them.

Morris was already moving.

The ceremony continued.

Volmer finished his remarks. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The four academy flags were raised in sequence, which produced genuine cheering from each respective section.

The competition schedule was announced, individual brackets beginning tomorrow at nine, team events Saturday, survival scenarios and theory demonstrations across both days, final results Sunday evening.

Normal. All of it normal.

The figure at the pillar hadn’t moved.

The figure at the eastern entrance had adjusted their position slightly — toward the target’s section of the stands, William noted, a slow drift that was almost imperceptible.

Morris’s people moved with them.

The ceremony was winding toward its conclusion. Final remarks, the traditional lighting of the competition torch, applause from four academies that mixed into a sound that was larger than its parts.

William kept himself still and present and visible and ready, which was what Morris had asked for and also what the situation required and also, simply, what he was.

The torch was lit.

Applause.

And in the movement of thousands of students beginning to disperse from the stands, Morris made her move.

It was quiet. William almost missed it — two of her people converging on the figure at the eastern entrance with the practiced ease of people who had done this kind of thing before, and the figure coming with them without visible resistance.

Which meant either they had assessed that resistance was not viable or they had been waiting to be taken and were a deliberate sacrifice to test the response.

The pillar figure had already gone.

William scanned the dispersing crowd. Couldn’t find them.

"The pillar," he said quietly.

"Gone at the torch lighting," Kai said. "Used the applause and the movement."

"Did they get to the target."

"No. The target left the stands two minutes before the torch lighting with one of Morris’s people beside them, which looked like a student and a friend leaving together." Kai’s voice was level. "They’re out of the venue."

Seraphina exhaled slowly beside him. Not a sigh — a controlled release of held tension.

"One detained," she said. "One gone."

"Yes," Kai said.

"Is it over."

Kai was quiet for a moment.

"The session was delayed. The immediate window closed. The legal inquiry is in motion." He watched the dispersing crowd. "The organization will assess. They’ll receive the news about the inquiry tonight or tomorrow. They’ll calculate whether continuing serves their interests or creates unacceptable exposure."

"And if they calculate that continuing is worth the exposure," William said.

"Then tomorrow is when they try again," Kai said. "During the competition itself. When security attention is divided across multiple venues and the target is in a public space where a chaotic approach is harder to attribute."

The courtyard was still clearing. Torches burning. The competition torch bright at the center of the platform, officially open, officially started.

Four academies. Twelve events. Three days.

Whatever else it was, it was also that.

William looked at Seraphina. She was watching the crowd with the focused attention she brought to everything, her competition schedule already in her hand, her mind already in tomorrow.

She glanced at him.

"We compete," she said. "We stay alert. We trust Morris with the parts that are Morris’s."

"Yes," he said.

"And we win."

He held her gaze for a moment.

"Yes," he said again.

She nodded once, with finality, and turned toward the dormitory path, and he fell into step beside her, and Kai came behind them, and the three of them walked through the dispersing crowd of students from four academies who were talking about brackets and event formats and which dining hall would have the best breakfast tomorrow.

Normal things.

Real things.

The competition was open.

Tomorrow it began in earnest, and whatever came with it, they were ready.