The words Pax had just spoken lingered in the air like smoke that refused to dissipate.
"They are watching."
The lamp between them burned steadily, its flame quiet yet alive, casting long shadows along the walls of the small conference room. Outside, the Guild Hall pulsed with the rhythm of deep night, boots echoing on stone floors, voices drifting faintly through the corridors but inside this room, there was only stillness.
Sage stood at the head of the table, hands resting lightly against the wood, his gaze lowered as if he were studying its grain. Across from him sat Pax, his posture straight and face calm, but something had shifted, something was being held back.
Sage noticed it immediately.
"You're not finished," he said.
Pax didn't deny it. He reached for another document from the thin stack he had brought in earlier but hesitated to push it forward. Instead, he held it loosely between his fingers as if weighing whether timing mattered for his next words.
