The doors boomed shut behind him, the echo chasing him down the corridor as he strode away, his cloak snapping at his heels.
The academy dormitories felt colder when he returned that night. Their stone walls seemed less like housing for scholars and more like the gray ribs of a beast closing around him. Glowstones lined the hallways, each one casting a pale, steady light that hummed faintly. It was a sound most ignored, but tonight it gnawed at Sun, grating on his frayed nerves.
He pushed into the common room of his assigned dormitory, his mood so dark that the air itself seemed to tense.
Two of his closest companions were there. Fin lounged in a chair, lean and sharp-eyed, idly tapping a card against the table where a half-finished game lay abandoned. Across from him, Garun, broader, heavier, his presence steady as stone, sat with his arms folded, a half-empty mug of cider beside him.
Both of them looked up the moment Sun entered.
