Damon pocketed the black jade token and walked out of the dead-end courtyard without looking back.

The morning streets of Solaris City were filling up fast, merchants rolling carts, disciples from various sects moving in clusters, the smell of fried dough and roasted nuts drifting from the food stalls lining the main road.

He moved through it all without stopping, his mind already sorting through what he had.

Alistair Reventon was patient and dangerous.

Kael was an unknown variable with a bloodline nobody could identify.

The tournament was the stage, and whatever came after it was going to be messier than the event itself.

He filed it all away and pushed open the doors of the Golden Sun Pavilion.

****

The moment he stepped into the corridor, he heard them.

Ariel’s voice, bright and sharp.

Mio correcting something.

Mia laughing at whatever Mio said.

The faint crackling static that always preceded Neko’s excitement.

He opened the door.

All four of them were ready, luggage stored in their rings, dressed and composed like they hadn’t spent the better part of the previous night making enough noise to rattle the walls.

Neko was perched on the bed in her cub form, her silver-striped tail curling and uncurling with lazy posture, her bright silver eyes fixing on Damon the moment he walked in.

She let out a short, pleased chirp.

"You’re back," Ariel said, crossing the room and pressing a quick kiss to his jaw. "We were about to send Neko to find you."

"Neko would have gotten distracted by a food stall," Mio said flatly.

Neko’s ear twitched. She did not deny it.

Mei was standing near the window with her arms folded loosely beneath her chest, her deep purple hair catching the morning light.

Her qipao was a deep crimson today, fitted in a way that left very little to imagination, and she was watching Damon with that particular expression she wore when she already knew something and was deciding whether to say it.

"Having a fun night?" she asked.

"Someting like that," Damon said.

"Mm." She pushed off the window ledge.

"Then let’s not waste the good weather. Let’s go back to the sect."

Damon picked Neko up from the bed.

The cub immediately butted her head against his chin, purring loud enough that Mia reached over and scratched behind one ear.

"Only I do that," Mia told her seriously.

Neko purred harder, directing it at Damon.

Mia narrowed her eyes.

****

They found Lumina in the lobby.

She was standing near the entrance in her Lark disguise, the disciple robe, the bound chest, with the hair pulled back.

She looked composed. The picture of a reserved, professional disciple.

Then Damon walked in with Ariel at his side, Mio and Mia a step behind, and Mei gliding at the rear like she owned the building.

Lumina’s eyes moved to Ariel first. Then to Mio. Then to Mia.

The color that climbed her neck happened fast, starting at the collar of her robes and rising to the tips of her ears before she could stop it.

She had heard them.

All night.

Through the wall, through the balcony partition, through whatever thin array the Golden Sun Pavilion’s wall had optimistically believed counted as soundproofing.

She had pressed a pillow over her head at some point.

It had not helped.

She had stared at the ceiling for what felt like three hours, and the sounds had painted images in her mind that she absolutely did not want there and absolutely could not remove.

She was a princess of the Solaris family. She had trained in light cultivation since she could walk.

She had discipline, poise, and a reputation for unshakeable composure.

She was currently the color of a ripe tomato.

"Lark," Damon greeted her, his tone perfectly even.

His golden eyes passed over her face without pausing, like he noticed nothing at all.

"Good morning," she greeted them.

Ariel smiled at her.

It was a warm, genuine smile, completely unbothered.

"Did you sleep well?"

The question landed like a thrown stone.

"Fine," Lumina said. "I slept fine."

Mio glanced at her. Mia glanced at Mio.

Some silent communication passed between the twins that Lumina couldn’t read, and then Mia looked back at the ceiling with an expression of great innocence.

Mei said nothing.

She simply watched Lumina with those eyes and the faint curve of a smile that said she understood exactly what had happened and found it deeply entertaining.

Damon had already moved toward the exit.

Lumina followed, grateful for forward momentum, and told herself firmly that the heat in her face was from the morning sun coming through the pavilion’s glass doors.

It was not convincing. She knew it was not convincing. She kept walking anyway.

****

The Sky Cutter lifted from the docking platform as the city’s morning bells rang across the towers of Solaris City.

Damon stood at the bow railing and watched the golden rooftops shrink below them.

He had half-expected another attack on the return journey.

The Reventon agent had been clear enough, that Alistair intended to wait until after the tournament.

But men with power and wounded pride didn’t always follow their own instructions.

He kept his senses extended for the first hour, watching the clouds, tracking the distant shapes of birds against the sky.

Nothing came.

The second hour passed the same way. Then the third.

Mei appeared beside him at some point and leaned against the railing, her hair moving in the high-altitude wind.

She didn’t speak.

She seemed content to simply stand there and watch the landscape roll past below them, the forests and rivers of the Eastern Continent spread out like a painting.

Lumina stayed near the stern, cultivating with her eyes closed, her light affinity making the air around her faintly warm even at altitude.

By the time the Azure Cloud Sect’s mountain range appeared on the horizon, Damon had accepted that the journey back was simply going to be quiet.

Sometimes things were quiet.

The Sky Cutter descended through a thin layer of cloud, and the familiar sight of the sect’s mountain peaks came into view.