37 — SignalIlyra did not sleep.The basement held its quiet the way sanctuaries did — not silence, not absence, but a soft layering of breath and presence, bodies at rest in a space that had learned how to keep them. The candles had been put out hours ago, leaving only the low amber spill of a single lamp near the stairs, enough to outline shapes without demanding attention.She sat on the edge of the narrow mattress they’d given her and watched.Not the room.The bonds.She couldn’t stop, even if she’d wanted to. The sight didn’t switch off with exhaustion or intention. It was always there — threads of varying brightness connecting people who often didn’t know how visible they were.Tonight—They were wrong.Not broken.Not even weak.Just… uneven.A couple across the room — their bond steady for days — now showed a faint dimming at one edge, as if something had brushed it and left a residue. Another pair near the shelves, usually quiet and contained, flickered intermittently, a ten
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