Before Shellia could even finish sipping the last drop of her iced tea, a swift fluttering echoed against the open Silver Wing windows. A bird—a courier pigeon, surprisingly well-groomed for a messenger—landed delicately on the balcony railing. In its talons, it carried a folded parchment sealed with wax.
Shellia blinked, startled. "Already? Didn't we just finish breakfast, dessert, and a small apocalypse simulation in the training ground?"
["Why do birds never just knock?"] Orryn's voice echoed in her mind, the chibi stag bouncing slightly as if it found the sight amusing.
Kaelin, now flexing in a way that made her sword strapped to her hip look almost comically small, stepped forward. "I volunteer to chase it. Maybe it has some training exercises for me."
Veyra, ever composed, tilted her head. "Chasing birds? Really, Kaelin, must everything be a duel?" She gave a faint smile but allowed Kaelin to approach anyway.
