Nobody spoke while they pulled out their chairs.
It wasn't a big table. Seul sat to Jin's left, Echo to his right. Haneul, Areum, and Sujin took the seats further down, Sujin perched on the very edge of hers like she wasn't sure she was allowed to be in the room. Ryu sat at the head with his elbows on the table and his hands folded in front of his mouth, and for a moment he just looked at them before he lowered his hands.
"First," he said. "The trials. How did your people do?"
"All of them made it through," Jin said. "Every fight in the arena, too. Nobody from our side lost."
Ryu's eyebrows went up. He looked around the table at Haneul, at Areum, at Sujin, and something in his face eased a little.
"Good," he said. "That's good. I'm glad."
"And yours?" Jin asked.
Ryu took a moment before answering.
