"Because if you don't, things won't be easy for you and everyone around you."
The weight of Aldric's words lingered in the air long after he had finished speaking, settling into Lyra in a way she could not easily shake.
She sat quietly with her fingers resting against the edge of the table and her thoughts still struggling to keep pace with everything she had just heard.
Aldric watched her for a moment, as though allowing that silence to do its work before he shifted slightly in his chair.
"There is something more," he said.
Lyra looked up.
There was no urgency in his movements as he reached into the inner fold of his robe and drew out a small object wrapped in dark cloth.
He placed it carefully on the table between them, not pushing it toward her immediately but letting it rest there as though its presence alone carried meaning.
For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Aldric unfolded the cloth.
