After I finished eating, the room fell into a quieter kind of stillness.
Mia took the empty bowl from my hands and set it aside with the same unhurried care she seemed to apply to everything.
I watched her for a moment before speaking again.
"The tiger beastkin who teleported me here," I said, watching her closely. "Do you know why he did that?"
Mia's ears twitched once, but she did not answer immediately.
"No," she said at last. "I don't. But I can tell you that his mission was very important."
I frowned. "How do you know?"
She lifted one hand and lightly tapped the necklace resting against her palm.
"Because of the teleportation artifact I found near the two of you. I don't know how it was destroyed, but it was an SS-rank artifact. A normal beastkin would not be carrying something like that unless it was for a very specific purpose."
My attention sharpened at once.
