Three

Tonner convenes an emergency meeting with his research team during the break to reveal that someone has requested their work be reassigned and distributed across multiple institutions. The group discusses the likely culprit while also strategizing how to investigate and counter the threat to their team's integrity.

Dafyd arrives at the largely empty medrey laboratories to find Tonner, Else, Campar, and Nöl waiting in an informal seating area. Tonner's demeanor is noticeably tense, signaling serious trouble. Jessyn arrives shortly after, having walked with her brother Jellit, who departs when he realizes a private team meeting is occurring. Tonner announces that someone has requested the funding colloquy reassign their work, splitting the primary scholars among multiple institutions while leaving a junior researcher to oversee existing progress. Else elaborates that the justification centers on the work's importance requiring distribution across multiple locations. Dafyd reveals that he encountered Llaren Morse at the Scholar's Common, a near-field astronomer from Dyan Academy who seemed to know about the plan beforehand and was gloating about it. The team discusses suspects: Nöl notes the evidence is circumstantial and could implicate anyone, but Tonner reveals that Tonner, Else, and Jessyn are the three scholars slated for the spin-off labs, effectively ruling out Jessyn and Campar, who has prior placement elsewhere. The group suspects Rickar, whose father is a landgraf with significant influence over Dyan Academy's buildings. Jessyn challenges whether spreading the research might actually benefit the project despite the team's immediate loss, but Nöl counters that scattering the team is a strange definition of victory. Tonner assigns investigation tasks: Dafyd will work through his connections in the funding colloquy; Else and Campar will investigate Irinna; Jessyn and Nöl will examine Rickar. The meeting ends with Nöl raising the simple question of whether they have considered directly asking the suspects. Meanwhile, a parasitic swarm inhabiting the body of the dead Ameer Kindred observes the group from nearby, gathering intelligence on the researchers and noting Tonner and Else as high-status targets.