Elara woke slowly, the healer's quarters swimming into focus around her, unfamiliar shapes sharpening into the ceiling beams she had not seen since before the challenge.
"Easy," I said, sitting close beside the cot. "You are safe."
She blinked at me, confusion clearing gradually into memory. "Bren. The fight. What happened."
"You survived," I said. "That is what happened."
She tried to sit up too quickly, wincing at the effort. "The light. I remember something taking over. I could not stop it."
"You stopped it eventually," I said. "That is more than most people could have managed."
She studied my face carefully, something shifting in her expression. "Why do you look like that."
"Look like what," I asked.
"Like you are bracing for bad news," she said.
I hesitated, unsure how to exp
