Chapter 402 - CH 402 — Whispers of Rebellion

The council chamber felt different after the messenger's departure, as though the ancient hall itself had absorbed the unsettling news and now carried it within its stone walls, while sunlight continued pouring through the stained glass without concern for the fears gathering beneath it. Several Elders remained seated around the circular table, yet the confidence that had accompanied them earlier seemed noticeably diminished, and each person appeared trapped within private calculations about a future growing more uncertain by the hour.