No first-year went to the lower harbour.

That rule did not change because Jasper could sense the Water Titan.

The storm had closed every exposed route, and adults were not sending seven-year-olds into a red-flag harbour because one of them might have useful information.

Jasper, Harper and Ava remained in the internal shelter with everybody else.

That did not make them useless.

Ava spread a harbour map across the floor near Professor Elowen.

She had written down the timing of the surges.

Harper had discovered that sitting still made her unbearable, so staff gave her jobs. She carried water cups, found a missing blanket, tied a younger student's shoe and stopped Theo from opening a service door "just to hear the storm better."

Jasper sat beside the communication panel.

The Titan's presence was so strong that describing each change had become impossible.

Professor Crowe's voice came through from the protected harbour control room.

"Barge shifted two metres. Primary lines holding. Debris building near the outer gate. Motor overloaded."

Thorne answered from another channel.

"Can the inner barrier take the next outside surge?"

"Yes, if flow remains clear. Debris changes the load."

Ava looked at the map.

"Ask where the debris is."

Elowen looked at her.

"Why?"

"Jasper keeps describing pressure on one side. If the blockage is there too..."

Elowen relayed the question.

Crowe answered.

"North hinge. Timber wedged above the midpoint."

Ava turned to Jasper.

"Where does the pressure hit?"

Jasper closed his eyes.

He did not reach.

He only noticed.

The force came from the southwest, curved around the breakwater and concentrated near the north side of the gate.

"North."

Ava pointed at the map.

"It's hitting the blockage."

Elowen passed that on.

Crowe said, "Could be channel geometry."

Ava nodded. "Yes."

Nobody turned a possibility into a fact.

Another surge reached the harbour.

The floor trembled faintly.

A second followed.

Then a third.

The communication panel crackled.

Crowe swore.

Harper looked over from across the hall.

Thorne's voice sharpened. "Report."

"Debris shifted. Gate opened another twenty centimetres. One barge line damaged."

Ava whispered, "It is clearing it."

Jasper was not sure.

What he felt from the Titan was not satisfaction.

It was pressure seeking somewhere to go.

A narrow channel blocked when water wanted passage.

The image made his own chest feel tight.

Harper returned once the younger students were settled.

"What happens if the barge breaks loose?"

Elowen answered. "It could be carried out or strike the inner gate."

"People on it?"

"No."

Harper relaxed slightly.

"Then let it go."

Ava shook her head. "If it hits the inner gate, the blockage could get worse."

Jasper felt another impression.

The work barge from below.

A dark rectangle in moving water.

Ropes pulling tight.

Then the Titan's attention shifted past it.

Toward the inner dock.

Jasper saw warm shapes behind barriers.

Staff.

His breath caught.

"It knows they're there."

Elowen looked at him. "Who?"

"Harbour staff. Like when it showed me myself from below."

Ava whispered, "Then it knows a surge could hit them."

Elowen shook her head gently. "Knowledge does not mean human concern."

Jasper nodded.

He knew.

Still, the question would not leave.

If the Titan knew people were there, what did that mean when it chose to move?

Crowe's voice returned.

"All personnel moving above secondary barrier. Control room evacuating in five."

Good.

Adults were not waiting for the sea to care.

Ava checked her timings.

"The pauses are getting shorter."

She showed Elowen.

Nine minutes.

Seven.

Five.

The next set arrived four minutes later.

Close enough to matter.

The third surge shifted the gate again.

Crowe reported it nearly open.

The barge remained held by one main line and one backup.

Then Jasper felt the Titan change.

Everything inside the strange connection became still.

Not the actual storm.

Wind still shook the building.

Rain still hammered Tidefall.

But the vast pressure outside the harbour gathered into one clear intention.

Ready.

Jasper stood.

"It's going to happen."

Elowen reached for the communication panel.

"Crowe. Jasper says a major surge is coming. Status?"

Static.

Then Crowe.

"Control room clear. Two maintenance staff still crossing the upper dock bridge. Thirty seconds."

Jasper's chest tightened.

Thirty seconds was too long.