~LYRA'S POV~
I walked into the session already somewhere else in my head.
Eren's strategy sessions had a rhythm to them by now, maps first, then troop positioning, then the broader political questions he liked to frame as puzzles rather than problems. I liked them, usually. They were the one part of my training that felt less like being shaped into something and more like being trusted to think.
But today I sat down across from him and the maps on the table might as well have been blank.
He let it go for the first ten minutes. Asked me something about the western alliance routes, got a half-answer that was probably technically correct and completely hollow, and moved on without comment. Asked me about the troop rotation proposal Ryland had put forward last week. I gave him something that resembled an opinion.
Then he stopped mid-sentence.
