The staging plain emptied in slow waves.
Association officials folded their portable command stations and loaded them onto armored transports, their movements brisk and organized, the kind of efficiency that came from doing the same job a hundred times.
Foreign guild fighters filtered through the checkpoints Eclipse's veterans had established, nodding to Soren's checkpoint on their way out without complaint. Camera crews packed last, reluctant, zooming in on anything that might justify one more minute of footage before Eclipse's people escorted them past the cordon with polite, immovable finality.
Kaiden watched it happen from the center of the plain with his hands in his pockets, and as he did so, his new reality blossomed before his very eyes.
Vespera had always been watching him from the shadows, but Kaiden hadn't wanted to build his family's safety on his mother's protection. He'd wanted independence.
