Silence stretched for several long seconds after Aelindra disappeared into the forest.
Nobody moved, nobody spoke, we just stood there at the gate holding glowing fruit and drowning in questions that had no answers.
"So," Ryota said finally, voice carefully neutral. "That was enlightening."
"Enlightening," Mara repeated flatly. "Riven is apparently the reincarnation of someone cosmically significant who knew an entity named Khaos, and we learned absolutely nothing useful. Very enlightening."
"We learned Void's true name," Henrik offered, though he sounded uncertain about whether that counted as useful.
"Great," I muttered. "One answer, fifty new questions. My favorite ratio."
Through the binding, I felt Azryth's emotions, his protective instinct screaming to fix this somehow, and his frustration that he couldn't.
"We should go," he said quietly. "Standing here won't give us answers."
"Agreed," Mara said, already moving. "I'll handle coalition debrief. You all... process."
