Silence hung in the air for a moment after Varra spoke.
"Pack your things, and get out. Leave your badges and booklet; the Tower doesn't need people like you."
It felt like the end of something.
The three who had not raised their hands froze as if their minds had stopped working. For a few seconds, none of them moved; no one in the room did.
Even the faint shifting of robes and scraping of chairs had gone quiet; you could hear a pin drop.
Then the first one moved.
A girl near the middle rows lowered her head, her hands trembling as she began to stand. Morena recognized her vaguely, with dark hair tied messily, ink stains on her fingers. Someone who had always sat alone, rarely socializing with others.
Her lips pressed together tightly.
She did not argue, and she did not look up.
She simply took off her badge with shaking fingers and placed it gently on the desk. Then her booklet, which she laid on top of it as if it were a gravestone marker.
