---
For a heartbeat he almost answered with an easy lie. Nothing. I am fine. Just tired. The usual things people said when they did not know how to begin.
But he had already spent two days surrounded by truths large enough to tear holes through ordinary speech. He no longer had the energy for little lies.
His fingers brushed once against the edge of the table.
"A lot," he said quietly.
Lily came farther into the room and sat opposite him without waiting to be formally invited. That was one of the things about Lily. She knew when politeness mattered and when affection mattered more. Her eyes searched his face carefully, not pushing, just waiting.
"Tell me," she said.
Sekhmet let out a slow breath through his nose.
His mind did not went to this morning.
It did not go to the void land, or the new grass, or Bat Bat being bullied by grammar, or even to the sealed half-gods waiting in hidden darkness under his authority.
It went back.
Back to that night.
Back to the study.
