Nobody suggested it directly.
It happened the way things between the four of them tended to happen — without much ceremony, without anyone making a formal proposal. Atlas had said something offhand about whether Jelo's surge could handle multiple opponents at once. Mira had looked at the field. Ken had said nothing, which with Ken meant something.
And then they were all four standing on the training ground facing the same direction — except Jelo, who was facing the other one.
"You're serious," Jelo said.
"You nearly took all three of us already in different fights," Atlas said. "Figured we'd stop spacing them out."
"This is different."
"Yeah," Atlas agreed. "It is."
Ken stood slightly apart from the other two — not distant, just positioned. His shadow coat was already rising across his shoulders, slow and deliberate. Not rushed. Like something that had been waiting.
Mira drew both blades.
The morning light caught the steel briefly.
