Elira didn't raise her voice to call them back to attention. She didn't need to. She stood the way a person stands when they know the room will listen, and the room did.
The last chairs clicked into place. The last whisper tucked itself away. The map still faintly glowed on the wall, a dim breath waiting to be drawn full.
"This isn't a beast hunt," she said. "It isn't points for cutting down things that roar. We're measuring decisions. How do you decide to move? Who you decide to follow.
What you decide to leave behind, even when it hurts your pride. The midterm will not start you at the same place. It will scatter you.
The field you earn here is the ground you stand on there. You'll land where the ground won't fight you at every step if you show balance and clarity.
If you can't bend, if you try to force a door that isn't a door, the exam will set you where the lesson comes harder."
