Vaelor was awake.Caelum got him in four minutes. Later, Aelara would think about that the fact that Caelum knew exactly where to go and how long it would take, the particular competence of someone who always mapped his exits even when he was hoping not to need them.
The four of them were in the room by midnight.
Lyra had not moved from the wall. She'd let Aelara sit next to her, close enough to feel the warmth of her, and she'd accepted the blanket Caelum put around her shoulders without arguing about it, which said something about the state of things. The mark on her wrist had settled from burning to something steadier still wrong, still not what it usually was, but steadier.
"Tell me what you're feeling," Vaelor said. He crouched to be at her level. Not looming. Just there, right at eye height, completely focused on her.
