The air in the hall tightened, not to the breaking point, but just to a line you could see.
Elias met his eyes and held them. There was no flinch, nothing that suggested he was trying to hide something. "I am not asking to put you anywhere," he said. "I am asking because if your body is doing something new, I want to understand it so you don't burn yourself out. So that none of us do."
He shut his mouth for a second and then added, quieter, honest in a way that rippled through his posture, "I like knowing what I can't control. It makes it smaller and easier to deal with."
Zubair stared another breath, then inclined his head a fraction. Not forgiveness. Not even agreement. Just the admission that he had heard the truth in it.
"Cards on the table, then," Lachlan said, clapping his hands once and letting the echo run. "Since we're apparently having Show and Tell."
