Evaline:
The morning air carried the faint scent of rain-soaked earth, the kind that made Silver Moon's stone walls gleam faintly under the cloudy sky. The Academy felt different today - quieter somehow, the usual rush of students dulled to soft murmurs and the occasional footsteps.
It was the calm before the storm. The morning before the first day of exams.
No classes, no training, no early lectures... just time to rest or cram whatever we could before facing the week that would decide everything.
I had barely managed four hours of sleep. Between late-night revision and sneaking through secret passages to meet my son, my brain felt like it was being kept awake purely by stress. Still, I forced myself to smile as I joined my friends, all of us walking toward the dining hall together.
