The broken ice kept melting around them. Water gathered on the smooth floor. It flowed in small streams toward the underground river. The sound of running water was strangely calm after the heavy silence of the illusion room. It was a reminder that the normal world still existed beyond the mind torture they had just survived.
Minerva and Naviga stood facing each other. Neither spoke for a long time. Their eyes met briefly before both looked away. An unspoken understanding passed between them. Whatever they had gone through in the mirrors, whatever fears or secrets the illusions had made them face, those things would stay private. Some truths were too personal to share, even between people who trusted each other completely.
