FIA
The dining room was already full by the time we walked in, the kind of full that made you feel late even if you were not.
Aldric sat at the head of the table, spine straight, hands placed just so, his expression arranged into something that passed for calm if you did not know him well enough to recognize the effort behind it. Elara was beside him, shoulders slightly tucked in as if she could make herself smaller in the morning light pouring through the tall windows. Morrigan sat across from her, wrapped around a cup of something steaming, looking bright and alert in a way that felt unnatural for the early hour.
She saw us first.
Her gaze dragged slowly over me, paused at the shirt hanging off my shoulders, then returned to my face. The smile that followed was slow and deliberate, like she had already reached the end of a thought and found it amusing.
"Oh... I'm sure you had a good night," she said.
