Mei walked back with Tommy at the same unhurried pace they'd left with, like the last twenty minutes had been exactly what it looked like on the surface and nothing more. She kept her eyes forward, expression neutral, the picture of someone who'd simply needed a few minutes away from the group.
Tommy, for his part, was holding himself together reasonably well. She could feel the questions building up behind his silence, the need to know more, to get the full story, to have something concrete to grab onto. But he kept it reined in. Swallowed it down and kept walking. Maybe he understood, on some level, that now wasn't the time. Or maybe he just needed a moment to figure out what he even wanted to ask first.
Either way, he held himself back. That was enough for now.
The yard had mostly settled back into its usual low, listless rhythm by the time they returned. A few people were still lingering, talking in quiet clusters or just sitting. Nobody paid them much attention.
