Anna waited until the golden light disappeared before asking, "Are you all right?"
Max looked at the closed Karma System record.
"No." He said. "But I understand what happened now. That is better than not knowing."
She nodded. The answer did not need to become a longer conversation while Quin stood near the wall and half the dungeon waited for Max's attention.
They would speak privately later.
Quin removed his hand from the hilt of his sealed weapon. "I dislike him."
"You did not say anything to him." Anna observed.
"I was waiting to learn whether he became less irritating."
"Did he?" Max asked.
"No."
That was enough agreement for one morning.
The defense meeting began an hour later.
Max held it in the protected command room instead of asking every commander to leave the territory they were securing. The wall map still showed the complete route from the vanished challenge gate to Corathen. The hostile markers were gone. Dungeon-controlled positions remained.
