The four directors stepped forward onto the balcony.
Eryndor.
Selara.
Kaelen.
Althea.
Their presence alone was enough to pull the hall together again. Hundreds of first year students had spent the last minutes speaking over one another, searching for familiar faces, comparing prey, guessing rankings before the results were even shown, but all of that thinned the moment the four of them appeared above the assembly.
Kaelen walked to the front first.
He did not need to impose himself. The entire hall quieted on its own, as if everyone already knew that from this point onward no one's imagination would matter anymore. Only the results would.
"Congratulations, students," Kaelen said, his voice carrying through the grand hall with clean clarity. "Once your grades are revealed, those of you who have passed will have finished your first year. After that, you will have one month of rest before second year begins."
No one interrupted.
