The news about Aldric sat in the camp like a stone in still water.
Nobody panicked. That was the thing about this group. They had all been in enough bad situations to understand the difference between a problem and the end of something, and this was a problem. A serious one. But not the end.
Vaelor had gone very still when Rhea told him. That particular stillness that meant he was moving fast on the inside. Then he had nodded once and said they would adjust, and the way he said it closed the panic door before anyone had a chance to open it.
They sat around the low fire and worked through the new shape of things.
Without Aldric inside the chamber they had no procedural move, no delay, nothing that could hold the hearing until they arrived. Which meant they stopped trying to slow it down. They arrived before it finished instead. They walked in while it was still going.
Caelum had looked at that option and said: "That's actually better."
Everyone had looked at him.
