"Hello."
The voice was smooth. Balanced. Polished.
Everyone turned.
Jesse looked up—then froze, just for a heartbeat.
Pink hair.
Purple eyes.
Valeria Olarion.
Daughter of a famed Arcanis bloodline. A student noted not just for power, but for restraint. A name that came with weight… and a gaze that cut too clean to be dismissed.
Valeria's smile was soft. Not mocking. Not sharp. But there was something beneath it Jesse couldn't quite read. Something… watchful.
The circle stilled.
As if a thread had snapped loose in the weave of idle conversation, tension crept in quietly—soft but precise.
Valeria Olarion's presence wasn't loud. It didn't need to be.
She moved like a falling petal through a still pond—no sound, but all eyes followed.
Jesse straightened instinctively, her fingers tightening just slightly at her side.
'She's here.'
