The Guild lobby buzzed, louder than usual. Or maybe it just felt that way because every head seemed to turn when Fin walked through the double doors the next morning. Whispers followed him like shadows.
"Is that him?"
"Carver? No way he's walking already..."
"Looked like death warmed over yesterday."
"Heard the whole team got wiped... how'd he survive?"
"Amnesia, they're saying. Convenient, right?"
Fin kept his gaze forward, his expression carefully neutral, projecting weary confusion. Inside, his cores were hard at work, his body almost fully repaired. He ignored the stares, the muttered speculation.
'Let them talk,' he thought, the cold logic overriding any embarrassment. 'Suspicion is better than dissection.'
He spotted Lila leaning against a pillar, talking animatedly with another swordsman. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw him. Excusing herself, she pushed through the small crowd gathering near the mission board and walked straight towards him.
