By the time Liam reached his dorm room, the announcement inside Beacon Hall had already begun rearranging itself in his mind.
He closed the door behind him and stood still for a moment, one hand resting against the handle while the room settled around him in familiar silence. The warmth inside helped remove the edge of the cold clinging to his coat, but it did nothing for the irritation that had followed him from Beacon Hall all the way across the academy grounds.
The Bastion Assessment itself was one problem. Fourteen days inside Eldervale, a fortified settlement to secure, a command structure to build, supplies to manage, and a Warden the academy was serious enough to warn them not to engage. That alone would have been enough to occupy most students' thoughts for the rest of the evening.
But Liam was not thinking only about Eldervale.
He was thinking about Chris.
