Diana wandered through the sitting room's outer doorway several minutes later, her breathing still slightly elevated from her own solitary training session. A light sheen of perspiration glistened on her skin, and her hair was pulled back in a practical, messy knot.
She stopped dead at the threshold when she saw the state of the room. The once elegant space had been transformed into something resembling a battlefield of intellect: scattered parchments, ink-stained fingers, and a heaviness in the air that spoke of desperate urgency.
"What in the hell did I walk into?" she asked, her voice carrying a note of genuine confusion as she surveyed the organized chaos.
"Divine artifact reconstruction," Lily answered immediately, not even lifting her gaze from the ancient text beneath her fingers. Her voice was flat with concentration. "Come help."
"I need someone to hold this volume open while I copy the relevant passage, and my hands are already full of references."
