The hall had been built for more people than were currently in it.
Kang Min noticed it within the first few minutes. The bench rows ran long enough for eighty, the aisle spacing generous enough for a crowd moving in both directions at once. Sixty students filled maybe three-quarters of the available space, and the empty sections toward the back had the quality of gaps that had been there long enough for the stone to stop expecting feet. Slightly cleaner at the bench bases, a little cooler in the air. Whatever had reduced the academy's enrollment had happened gradually and hadn't been corrected.
He filed it and watched the platforms.
The three Masters were standing rather than sitting, which by itself told you something. Either personal preference or a deliberate signal that this opening was formal enough to stand for. The hall had gone quiet when they walked in, sixty people settling into the same attentive stillness at once.
