The university main hall overflowed with noise afterward while afternoon sunlight spilled warmly across polished marble floors and towering glass windows surrounding the crowded academic building, and despite the ordinary atmosphere something ugly moved quietly beneath student laughter today.
Whispers.
Always whispers now.
Elara entered through the eastern corridor afterward while silver-gray eyes remained distant beneath pale exhaustion and soft strands of dark hair moved gently against her cheeks beneath drifting spring wind entering through opened doors.
Conversations immediately lowered around her.
Not fully silent.
Worse than silence.
Muted judgment.
Curious little stares crawling across skin like insects.
Elara kept walking calmly afterward while boots echoed softly across marble flooring beneath the enormous chandeliers hanging above the crowded hall.
Ignore it.
Ignore all of it.
That became survival lately.
