**LILA’S POV**
I take back ground deliberately.
Not quietly. Not by slipping back into spaces I used to occupy and pretending nothing changed. I don’t ask permission. I don’t seek reinstatement. I don’t wait for someone else to decide it’s appropriate for me to reappear.
I do it publicly.
On my terms.
The first step is showing up where my absence had been most loudly interpreted. Not the packhouse proper. Not Derek’s office. I choose the places where decisions are shaped before they harden. The unglamorous rooms. The ones without banners or observers. Briefings that don’t end with applause. Working groups where people arrive tired, coffee in hand, expecting to grind through problems rather than posture through them. Cross-pack coordination meetings where rank technically exists, but c
