Mostly because arguing never worked.
Alice simply evolved around logic.
Like a particularly annoying species.
The Queen looked around.
The joking slowly faded.
Her expression softened.
Children playing beside tents.
Families eating simple meals.
Workers carrying supplies.
Citizens helping newcomers.
The good.
The bad.
Everything together.
For a brief moment—
Raj saw the Queen instead of Alice.
The person who genuinely cared.
The person who worried when nobody was looking.
Then Alice immediately ruined the moment.
"I'm hungry."
Raj sighed.
There she was.
A messenger suddenly ran toward them.
Breathing heavily.
"Miss Raj!"
Raj turned.
"What happened?"
The messenger handed her a folded report.
She opened it.
Read the first line.
Then read it again.
Her expression changed.
Alice immediately noticed.
"What?"
Raj continued reading.
The report was short.
Very short.
A recovery team.
A sewer maintenance route.
A section near the collapse zone.
And one sentence.
"Signs of recent human activity discovered."
Alice straightened.
The joking vanished completely.
"Recent?"
Raj nodded.
The report specifically mentioned it.
Not old.
Not before the collapse.
Recent.
Very recent.
The Queen slowly smiled.
Not a smug smile.
Not a playful smile.
A hopeful one.
"Well."
Alice folded her arms.
"I told you."
Raj looked at her.
"You don't actually know if he's alive."
"No."
Alice shrugged.
"But if somebody can survive an underground collapse."
The two women thought about Andre.
Then immediately reached the same conclusion.
"...Unfortunately."
The messenger looked confused.
Neither bothered explaining.
Far beneath the city.
Someone had been moving.
And for the first time in days—
There was finally a lead.