Will pushed through the canvas flap into the violet glow of the camp. Allison didn't look up from the ember of earth magic she held beneath a suspended iron pot. She just reached out with her free hand and put a tin cup of hot water into his palm as he passed, timed to the second.
He took it without breaking stride and sat on a low rock by the fire.
Maddie sat across from him, oiling the heavy iron of her broadsword with the flat, operational focus of someone who had already filed last night under done and moved on. She looked up when he sat.
"Tell me you feel that," she said. "Because right now this fifteen percent threat generation feels like the System bolted a magnet to my spine."
"The prompt fired?"
"An hour ago. Loudest chime I've ever heard for a buff that just makes me a better target." She rolled her shoulders, cracking her neck. "It's heavy. The space between us feels loaded."
