The courtyard was quiet at this hour, the kind of quiet that made footsteps sound louder than they were. Jae walked across it, hands in his pockets, the dim light of floating mana-infused stones casting shifting shadows that stretched and twisted across the cobblestones.
The air was cool, carrying the faint, earthy scent of the gardens beyond the academy walls, and the quiet made him hyper-aware of every sound: the scrape of his boots on stone, the faint rustle of leaves, even the distant drip of water from the fountain near the entrance.
Most of the academy windows were dark, their opaque panes reflecting only faint glows from the stones scattered across the grounds.
Tirel was leaning against a column when he arrived, arms folded loosely across her chest, her red hair catching the glow from one of the floating stones.
