Few Days Later by dawn
Morgana arrived
No announcement. No herald. Just a portal opening in the settlement's outer courtyard with the precise, controlled elegance of someone who had been creating portals for longer than most kingdoms had existed. She stepped through dressed in traveling robes, her hair pinned back, her staff held practically at her side.
Satou was already there.
He'd been up for two hours. Not anxiety — preparation. He'd reviewed Lyra's assessment three times, committing the structure to memory. He'd walked the perimeter once in the dark, letting the settlement ground him. He'd eaten breakfast with Jessica and Lyra in their quarters, the three of them quiet in the way of people who had already said what needed to be said.
Lyra had handed him the folded assessment folio at the door.
"Don't soften it," she'd said.
"I won't."
