Calder’s voice cut across the clearing like a blade through cloth. “All students. Gather at the gate.” 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3h2UJv3Za
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Around Cel, conversations died mid-sentence. Feet shuffled against packed earth, bodies reorganizing themselves with the particular efficiency of people who’d learned that Instructor Calder’s commands didn’t allow for dawdling. Lior’s excitement had frozen mid-expression, his attention snapping toward the instructors.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCk4otJvPJ
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They moved with the flow. Let the crowd pull them forward as students converged on the village entrance. Hestia had already positioned herself near the front, her black robes and wine-red ribcage frame standing out among the common clothes most students wore. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIvuDAT5oW
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Instructor Saren stood at the formation’s center, Calder perhaps three steps to her right. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDx0PDXktJJ
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Her gaze swept across them. Counting maybe. Confirming that everyone had arrived, that no stragglers remained scattered through the forest or lingering at the tree line. Her assessment took perhaps five seconds, then she spoke.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVlJlu9K7H
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“This is your first checkpoint.” The words emerged with the same clipped precision her lectures carried. “I’m pleased to report that all of you have reached this location without serious injury or incident.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVpHrNTki2
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A quiet murmur rippled through the gathered students. Relief, probably. The acknowledgment that they’d survived the first leg without casualties.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTIp7YQhGyU
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Saren waited for silence to reassert itself. Then she continued, her tone shifting into something more instructional.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHw6EzfHSn0
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“You will remain in this village for the next few days. The residents have reported increased creature activity in the surrounding forest.” She paused, letting that information settle. “Tomorrow morning, I will select a group to accompany Instructor Calder and myself on a scouting expedition. We will investigate the reported sightings, assess the threat level, and determine what action is required.” 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyi8UFbEK2b
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Saren’s gaze tracked across the formation again, making brief eye contact with several students before moving on. “Those not selected for scouting duty will assist the residents with their daily work. Make yourselves useful.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG15IGMzcib
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Calder stepped forward. His scarred face carried its usual severity, eyes tracking across the students.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vsdvzUmT8
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“The residents have volunteered to house students during our stay. They’re waiting inside the village now. When we dismiss you, you will enter and approach families who have space available. Be respectful. Remember that these people are offering hospitality they don’t owe you. Conduct yourselves accordingly.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yymhFSzvF
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Saren nodded once, confirming the point Calder had been making. Then she gestured toward the gate.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6JdoBvlms
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“Dismissed. Follow me.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrz0CZiGi1
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The formation broke immediately. Students surged forward, the rigid half-circle dissolving into a crowd pressing toward the village entrance. Nobles moved first, their confidence creating paths through the mass. Commoners followed more hesitantly, clustering in familiar groups.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JXU23AdPp
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Cel let himself be carried along. His shoulder brushed against other students, bodies pressing close in the narrow space between gate posts. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrmWt1rToz
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The village spread before them. Sprawling. Perhaps a hundred buildings or more, arranged along several intersecting roads that branched and wound through the settlement with no clear order. Houses built from rough-cut timber, roofs thatched with material that looked like it needed replacing. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQdg5xkzJB
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And standing throughout the space, positioned at intervals along the main road, were the residents.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLszMFWzdsh
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Families, mostly. Couples with children clustered around their legs. Older individuals standing alone or in pairs. A few young adults who might have been siblings or friends sharing housing. All of them watching the students with expressions that ranged from curious welcome to cautious assessment.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGTbWCz6Dt
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Students scattered immediately. The crowd that had pressed through the gate dissolved as people began approaching the nearest available families. Some moved with confidence, already making eye contact and initiating conversations. Others hesitated, hanging back, trying to assess which families looked friendliest.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iJXh8qQGg
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Beside Cel, Lior had gone completely still.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWtHXfYF7r
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His sky-blue eyes tracked across the gathered residents, scanning faces with the particular desperation of someone who needed to find what they were looking for before it disappeared.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jidHzGQ37
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Then his eyes stopped moving.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsdK9FHcaA
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They settled on two figures standing perhaps twenty steps away, near the well where paths intersected.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKSvWqkIDN
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A man. Tall, broad-shouldered, with the kind of build that came from years of physical labor. His face carried the weathering of someone who worked outdoors, skin darkened by sun exposure, lines carved deep around his eyes and mouth. He wore simple clothes - work pants and a shirt that had been mended in several places.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNk3QBB5IGn
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And beside him, tucked against his side with his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders, stood a woman.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ317AoNw89J
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Wheat-blond hair fell past her shoulders in waves that caught afternoon light. Her face held delicate features that would have been pretty if they weren’t currently tight with obvious anxiety. She wore a dress that looked homemade, the kind of careful stitching that suggested limited resources stretched as far as skill could manage.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuhKbbhxYX
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Her eyes - the same sky-blue as Lior’s - tracked across the gathered students with visible nervousness.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpeFk8ztw2
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“Mom?”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OjT2UleBS
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The word escaped Lior barely louder than a whisper. Hoarse with emotion that had been building since the moment he’d realized where they were. His entire body had begun trembling.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dwz1Mm9km
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The woman’s head snapped toward the sound. Her eyes found Lior’s across the distance.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAO9XCkWVS
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Recognition hit her face like a physical impact. Her expression transformed - anxiety shattering into pure joy, tears already gathering at the corners of her eyes before she’d taken a single step.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBSv9MHOBE
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They moved simultaneously.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5btRynhq3C
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Lior surged forward, his legs carrying him in a stumbling run that had no grace or control. His mother broke from her husband’s hold, charging to meet him with equal desperation, her wheat-blond hair streaming behind her.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBcTAevgh5c
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Then they collided.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdyW7B7BRu8
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Arms wrapped around each other with crushing force. Lior’s face buried against his mother’s shoulder, his entire frame shaking with sobs that had been waiting months for release. His mother held him with the fierce protectiveness of someone who’d feared she might never have this chance again, one hand cradling the back of his head while the other gripped his back like he might dissolve if she loosened her hold.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNBAPSBBq0
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“My boy.” Her voice cracked around the words. “My beautiful boy.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtduuSY0Lw
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Lior couldn’t speak. Just sobbed harder, his shoulders heaving, tears soaking into her dress. Hhis mother wasn’t much better - crying openly, her face pressed against his head, whispering things Cel couldn’t hear from where he stood frozen several steps away.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrkB0fgCsev
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Something sharp twisted in Cel’s chest.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bRGaoNLdg
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Pain. Immediate and visceral, radiating outward from somewhere behind his ribs. His lungs had forgotten how to work properly, each breath catching on something that felt physical despite having no substance.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIr5SqnfrOf
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He watched them hold each other. Watched Lior shake with relief and joy and whatever other emotions were pouring out of him after months of separation. Watched his mother stroke his hair with trembling hands, smiling through tears, looking at her son like he was the most precious thing in the world.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UlQoZQFho
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He understood, then.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMtvOFYaq0
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They lived in different worlds. Him and Lior. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2krlWjCdpm
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Lior had this. Had parents who loved him, who’d sent him to the Academy because they believed in his potential, who’d worried about him every day he was gone, who stood here now radiating pure joy at his return. Had a home waiting with people who cared whether he lived or died. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQpJcRaPuS
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Cel had none of that.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17FbHGfY1g
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He had a mother who stayed silent through his abuse. A father who always showed him the cold shoulder and sold him to cultists when the beating didn't fix whatever he’d deemed broken. His home was a place of violence and shame, a noble house that had discarded him like trash the moment he turned out useless. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Z1hocIkm1
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They didn't fit together. One belonged to the world of family, warmth and homes that felt safe. The other belonged to a world of betrayal, silence and scars that never stopped hurting.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4QBTVe4IeP
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Cel’s foot moved backward. One step. Withdrawal from something he had no right to witness. This moment wasn’t his. This joy didn’t belong to him. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfM5wGTHtH
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His body turned. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38QK4nXs9f
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A hand closed around his wrist.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDPI5Hju7i
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Cel looked back.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOIz4zfzej
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Lior stood there, his face a mess of tears, snot and probably other fluids. His eyes were red and swollen, cheeks flushed with color, hair sticking to his forehead where sweat and tears had matted it. But despite the wreckage of his expression, his smile was enormous - pure unfiltered happiness that made him look younger than his sixteen years.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlnUDMzm7E
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“Stay with us.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMn5VfZImPk
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The words hit harder than they should have. A simple invitation, delivered with the assumption that of course Cel would stay, as if Cel belonging there wasn't even a question worth asking. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBLzk3ZLef
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Lior’s mother stepped closer, standing perhaps an arm’s length away now. Her eyes - those same sky-blue eyes her son had inherited - tracked across Cel’s face with open curiosity.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOFDFdl285
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“Who is this?” The question emerged gentle. Interested rather than suspicious.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKC2xWF5Pz
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Lior released Cel’s wrist. Turned toward his mother with an expression that shifted from tearful joy into something closer to pride. His shoulders straightened slightly, chest puffing out with the particular posture of someone about to make an important introduction.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JD7yTjuuA
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“This is Celvian.” The declaration came clear despite the hoarseness crying had left in his voice. “My best friend.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqYdfbm8zO
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Best friend.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6CIdmtLZq
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The label landed with unexpected weight. Settled over Cel like clothing that didn’t quite fit but had been tailored specifically for him anyway. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3wLoqG5VK
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He turned the word over, trying to place it. When had that happened? When was the last time someone had called him a best friend? 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAyxbjHcpCA
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He couldn't remember. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkDPsCTbhf
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Not because the memory had faded. Because it had never existed in the first place. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zo2w5D6e3
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Cel searched Lior's face for hesitation, for the polite performance people used with strangers. He found none. Only unguarded sincerity, the kind that came without calculation - the kind Cel had almost forgotten existed.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDpPxT3ppt
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Lior meant it.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUTaMDyEjS
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Cel glanced toward Lior’s mother. Found her staring at him with an expression that had shifted into something oddly pleased.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3n6LGU1YrF
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His gaze cut toward Lior again. He found the boy staring at him with sudden concern, the pride from moments before replaced by visible worry.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhsIi6iUhr3
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“Are you alright?”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCsJdIBYqy
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The question confused him. Of course he was alright. Why wouldn’t he be— 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIAHTVM2Oi
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Something dripped down his face.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡew7A01BJsv
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Warm. Wet. Tracking from the corner of his eye down his cheek in a thin line that tickled slightly.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtQxFPldcS
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Understanding arrived with humiliating clarity.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14tIdnv1hW
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He was crying.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztHnra3PPp
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Actually crying. His vision had gone slightly blurry around the edges, colors bleeding together in ways that suggested more tears waiting to fall.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPDTahUH10
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Heat flooded his face, embarrassment so intense it felt physical.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigSo6DBOyT
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Cel’s hand moved immediately. Rough swipe across his cheeks, wiping away evidence with more force than necessary. 143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnbTy4O3Vn
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“I’m fine.” The words came out fast. “Just got something in my eyes. Dust or—something from the road. I’m fine.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYaE6QPglIl
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The explanation sounded pathetic even to him. But he kept wiping at his face anyway, desperate to erase the tears.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyxHGChyVK
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Lior’s father had approached. He stood beside his wife now, his weathered face carrying an expression Cel couldn’t quite read.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjds4pAXsh
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He extended his hand. Large and calloused, bearing the particular roughness that came from years of manual labor.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnS80ccrLq
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“Nice to meet you, Celvian.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1IIoliGME
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The greeting emerged simple. Direct. As if everything was normal.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwynkQGUegJ
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Cel forced his hand forward. Gripped the offered palm, feeling rough skin against his own. The handshake was firm without being aggressive, lasting exactly as long as courtesy required before releasing.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5jjrXOZdld
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“Nice to meet you too, sir.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBm2xYaWxMo
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Then Lior’s father released his grip and turned toward his son with an expression that had softened into something Cel recognized despite never having received it himself.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyoj1FM1FZ
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Lior stood frozen. His sky-blue eyes had gone wide, body tensed like he was bracing himself.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETk1cKs6xY
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“Father, I—”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7MQ2YhlHo
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The sentence never finished.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tuVqDxd9m
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His father’s hand landed on his head. Not a blow. Just contact - palm resting against wheat-blond hair, applying gentle pressure. The kind of touch that communicated affection without requiring words.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBd4u1BzsP1
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“Welcome home, son.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxonVjStiWl
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Lior’s expression crumpled. Fresh tears welled up, though these looked different from the ones before. Less desperate. More relieved. Like something he’d been carrying had finally been set down.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHmS5SyL4mD
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His lips pressed together, trembling with whatever emotion was threatening to overflow again. But his eyes held genuine happiness now. Complicated and reluctant, tangled with other feelings Cel couldn’t name, but undeniably real.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfG46d909l2
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His mother’s voice cut through the moment. “Well, come on now. Let’s get you boys inside.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2owSaKvVOv
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