"Aha!"
The exclamation jolted the young ones.
Immediately, four figures closed in on one another, shoulders bumping as they huddled over the projected scans, voices dropping into rapid murmurs that rose and fell with barely contained excitement.
"See here, see here," one of them whispered urgently.
"You're blind if you miss that," another snapped back.
"I told you it wasn't symmetrical," a third hissed.
"And I told you symmetry is overrated," came the dry counter, calm but firm.
Elders Shen, Feng, Wei, and Pao Xi crowded together like conspiring children, their heads nearly knocking as they pointed, gestured, and argued. Three identical faces frowned, squinted, and scowled in unison, while the fourth leaned in just enough to keep them from actually shoving one another aside.
Despite their youthful appearances, the way they bickered made it painfully obvious they were old. Ancient, even. Old enough that manners had long since been replaced with blunt confidence.
