For a few seconds, the hall stayed completely still. The briefing had not been long in the way lectures could be long, but it had changed the feeling of everything. The Bastion Assessment no longer sat in the students' minds as a dramatic two-week mission inside another realm. It had become sharper, more practical, and much less forgiving. Scattered arrival zones. Veyrhold not safe. Command Log. Communication failure. Delayed extraction. Observers who would let them suffer consequences. The Warden. Time difference. Deployment before dawn.
The second-years were quiet under the weight of it.
Then Mystica Moonstone rose from her seat.
