Lumi processed the information in silence.
There was a key point to consider.
Why did Merath go through all the trouble of making a portal, just to not come? It confirmed something he thought he knew. Merath could not leave Elenora. He was holding back a horrible monster within that forest, one that required his constant presence, and the cost of abandoning that post, even briefly, would be severe for the people living there.
He had not left Elenora.
Yet, to send that much power through a portal spanning that distance, maintaining it long enough, and then stabilize three soul fragments simultaneously, the cost of that was not trivial. For anyone else, it might have been impossible. For Merath, it was possible but it wasn't free. He had paid a significant price to accomplish it.
Lumi would not forget that.
This was the point where the Empress's gaze shifted. It wasn't quite accusatory, though it was certainly contemplative and questioning.
