The room emptied quickly after Selara spoke.
Chairs shifted back. Footsteps crossed the floor. The four students left first, each carrying the meeting away in a different manner. The wolf-lycan left steady. The bat-lycan did not waste a glance behind him. The two elves carried their resentment with them, quieter now, pressed down by Kaelen's warning but not erased by it.
Kaelen was the next to go, crystal staff tapping once against the floor before he turned. Althea followed without a wasted motion, black fabric brushing past the table like a passing shadow. Eryndor gave Trafalgar a brief look on the way out, part amusement, part approval, and disappeared through the door as well.
That left only three people in the room.
Selara.
Aubrelle.
Trafalgar.
The change was immediate. The weight of authority had not vanished, but the room had lost its official edge. Trafalgar let a small portion of his own stiffness go with it.
"You wanted something, Selara?" he asked.
