The meeting room looked exactly as I remembered it.
Same round wooden table.
Same root-covered walls.
Same warm lanterns.
Same three faction leaders sitting across from me as if they were about to decide the fate of an entire nation instead of whether a twelve-year-old human could make it home without being murdered on the way.
There was, however, one important difference.
I was considerably more damaged than the last time I had sat here.
I lowered myself carefully into the chair opposite them, suppressing a grimace when nearly every muscle in my body protested at once.
My pillow rested against my chest.
Liora Burrow was the first to speak.
The rabbit faction leader smiled gently at me, her long ears shifting slightly above her chestnut-and-silver hair.
"So, Al," she said warmly, "how was your week?"
I stared at her.
Then I slowly turned my head toward Lyssairia.
She stood near the wall with her arms crossed, looking completely unbothered.
