Nobody rushed her.
That was the thing about this group, Aelara had noticed over the weeks. They had learned each other's rhythms well enough to know when to push and when to wait. Seraphine needed a minute and the table gave her a minute and nobody filled the space with words that were not necessary.
When Seraphine looked up her face was back to the version it usually was. Composed. Present. But something underneath it was different and everyone could see it even if nobody named it.
"Her name is Voss," Seraphine said. "That is the name I knew her by. Whether she still uses it I cannot say."
"You knew her personally," Aelara said.
"Yes." Seraphine looked at her hands on the table. "We were the same age. Roughly. Age is not a precise thing for people like me so I say roughly and I mean it." She paused. "We came up in the same period. Learned from some of the same teachers. There was a time, a long time ago, when we were not on opposite sides of anything."
