CHAPTER THREE: THE GATES BETWEEN NAME (Part six)
They returned to the dorm quietly.
The air outside was cool now, touched by the last threads of rain. Drops still clung to the windows like waiting thoughts—too stubborn to fall, too light to hold.
Selka opened the door first.
She didn't look back.
Kaelen followed. Yolti came last.
Zephryn stood outside a moment longer.
His hand brushed the pendant hanging from his neck.
Not consciously.
Not even fully aware.
It pulsed. Once.
Then went still.
The room was dim. No lights on.
Bubbalor moved to his corner without sound.
No hum this time.
Kaelen dropped onto his bunk and stared at the ceiling.
Yolti knelt by her drawer, rummaging through a stack of old journals she hadn't opened since Solara's wake.
Selka walked to the window.
Pressed her fingers against the glass.
The sky had opened above Celestis Veil—just slightly—letting streaks of sunset spill in like ribbons of flame.
Zephryn stood in the center of the room.
No one told him where to go.
No one needed to.
He sat at the edge of his bed.
Took out the memory slip Timishu had left in his palm.
It shimmered with a faint internal glow—
the kind that meant it hadn't been opened in years.
He didn't open it now.
Just… held it.
Let it weigh.
Kaelen finally spoke again, voice soft.
"You gonna ask what the Trial actually is?"
Zephryn shook his head slowly.
"No."
A pause. His voice, like a blade unsheathed.
"I already know."
And outside, where no one looked,
a figure leaned against the far dorm wall.
Riko.
Alone. Listening.
Eyes sharp. Shoulders tight.
He hadn't been called.
He hadn't been seen.
He hadn't been forgotten.
But some names don't echo until they're shouted.