The air felt heavy in the great hall of the Fire Temple, where torch flames cast flickering shadows across the polished stone walls. Even though Areyos looked relaxed, he could feel the weight of his cousins' and Barrios's eyes on him. They were expecting a careful, measured answer—maybe even for him to back down. But Areyos wasn't the type to bend.
"Kaiser is right," he said, voice calm but firm. "Your power and experience make you an unclimbable mountain. Trying to reason with you would be a waste of time. But you had no right to banish Yoko, my best friend. She's part of my family, and neither you nor any authority in the world gets to decide who belongs in it. You unfairly exiled her from a place that doesn't even belong to you. I'm not going to ignore that injustice just because I need your training."
A thick silence fell over the hall. Zendal swallowed loudly, his eyes darting between Areyos and Dezeil, as if bracing for the storm that was coming.
