Nobody knew about it until it was done.
That was the first thing Aelara noticed when Caelum came to find them on a Wednesday evening. Not the decision itself, not the content of it, but the specific quality of how he arrived, the way he came into the sitting room where she and Vaelor were and sat down across from them with the settled expression of someone who had already done the thing and was now ready to account for it.
Not asking.
Accounting.
She noticed the difference immediately.
Vaelor noticed it too. She saw him set down what he was reading and give Caelum the full attention, the shift that meant he had registered something and was waiting to understand it.
Caelum looked at them both.
"I did something today," he said. "I want to tell you about it."
Aelara waited.
