The shop was quiet.
The air smelled faintly of scorched oil and metal dust. Runes flickered dimly beneath the floorboards, humming with low enchantments. Half-finished gauntlets, glowing coils, and blueprint scraps cluttered the side tables—organized chaos, the kind only Catria could read. Raven didn't mind. It was quiet, focused. Familiar.
A low hiss from Catria's forge flared and faded in the background. Theo tapped at his ledger console, boots up on the counter, humming something off-key.
Raven entered without a word. Dust from the street clung to the edge of his cloak. He didn't speak. Just walked past crates of stacked gear and stopped at the wall terminal.
Theo glanced up once.
"Things are calm," he said. "Market's holding. Orders are regular. Even the Helix fallout's losing heat."
No reply.
Theo added, almost lazily:
"Feels like they're settling in. Whatever noise we made last time—Titan Corp's already moving on."