Arwen's POV
Lydia finds me at breakfast before Maya arrives.
That timing is not accidental. I have watched Lydia Silvermoon operate in social spaces long enough to understand that she does not arrive anywhere without knowing who will be there and who won't. She moves through the academy the way someone moves through a chess board, with full awareness of where every other piece is and deliberate choices about which squares she occupies and when.
She sits across from me with a cup of tea and a small plate of food and the relaxed posture of someone who has nowhere particular to be, and she smiles at me the way she smiles at everyone, which is warmly and with great control.
"Good morning," she says.
"Good morning," I say back, because I was raised with manners even when everything else wa
