Above the hall, the projection still held the top three in pale blue light.
Zafira du Zar'khael.
Alfons au Vaelion.
Trafalgar du Morgain.
No one rushed to speak at first. Hundreds of first year students remained where they were, some still staring up at the projection, others staring directly at Trafalgar as if the ranking had altered the outline of him in real time. It had, in a way. A name at the top did not change the person standing beneath it, but it changed how the room arranged itself around that person. The glances came from every direction now, carrying a different kind of weight than before. Curiosity had been there all year. So had rumor. What filled the hall now was certainty.
Trafalgar stood under it all without much change in posture. His head remained slightly tilted upward, as if he were still checking whether his own name really had settled in first place.
'So I really ended up there.'
