The purple light hovered at eye level, waiting.
Ren studied it the way he studied everything new — cataloging, comparing, filing away details before committing to a reaction.
"You said a tour," he said finally. "Lead the way."
Zephyr's glow brightened, delighted. "Right this way, Master Ren!"
The spirit spiraled upward off his wrist and re-formed into its floating orb shape, bobbing toward the nearest doorway with the enthusiasm of a puppy that had just been told the word 'walk'.
The main floor unfolded room by room, and each one chipped away a little more at Ren's expectations.
The living area alone was larger than the entire dorm room he'd shared with Lia back at the side block. Dark blue upholstery. Low tables carved from something that looked like petrified starlight, cool and faintly luminous under his fingers. A hearth that burned without wood, without smoke, just clean silver flame that pulsed gently in time with some rhythm Ren couldn't identify yet.
