Arwen's POV
Nobody speaks for a moment.
The silence is the specific kind that follows something that reorganizes everything. Not a surprised silence. The silence of a room full of people rapidly rebuilding their understanding of the last several weeks around a new central fact.
Maya is looking at me.
I am looking at Maya.
Her face has done the thing faces do when a large truth arrives, the color leaving first, then the expression simplifying down to something that has no performance left in it. Just a person receiving information about themselves that they cannot yet fully hold.
"Tell me the specifics," I say to Elena. My voice comes out steady, which surprises me. "Tell me exactly what the compatibility requirements are and why Maya meets them."
Elena is still watching Maya with th
