The late afternoon sun bled amber light through the observatory glass, thick and warm, but the air inside Valerie's office felt pulled.
Nathan stood at the head of his team, the accumulated exhaustion of six High-Class clears settled deep in his marrow like a familiar ache. Garrett leaned heavily against Volcan, the mace's molten veins pulsing in a slow, sleepy rhythm. Dillon was unusually quiet, letting Cloudy coil loosely around his neck, her scales snapping with residual static from the Crimson Depths. Elise stood perfectly straight, Aurora's Heart anchored to the floorboards, while Mirko maintained her immaculate form at Nathan's side. In the window frame, Kuro was a seamless silhouette against the creeping dusk.
Valerie sat behind her cluttered desk, Boris snoring softly in the corner. She didn't ask for a debrief. She'd been tracking their progress through Helena's communication crystal, watching the clear notifications chime in one by one.
