"Yeah," Sylvia said. "It is."
She said it simply. She leaned forward slightly across the table, dropping her voice to something quieter. "Training alone gets... still. Too still, after a while." Her fingers moved along the rim of her cup. "I miss being around everyone." A small pause. "But joining the group right now comes with a problem."
Lucas leaned in slightly, matching her. "The amplifier."
She nodded, her eyes dropping to the cup. "Since I used it in the forest, it's been harder to keep it settled. It reacts on its own sometimes now, I don't always feel it coming." She exhaled once. "If it activates during training and someone in the academy sees the marks..."
"The mask?" Lucas offered.
Sylvia shook her head slowly. "Once, maybe twice. But if I show up every session wearing a mask, people start asking questions I don't have answers to. It draws more attention than it deflects." She looked at the table. "It'll just make things worse."
