Chapter 111

Aria's POV

The institute's first residency ended on a Friday in December.

Eight practitioners, sixteen weeks, Fenwick in autumn moving into winter. The river had frozen at the edges by the final week — Gorvan had mentioned this in his last dispatch, with the particular attention he gave to conditions, noting that the cohort had taken to walking the partially frozen path in the mornings in a loose group rather than individually, which he took as evidence of something having been established between them that extended beyond the formal sessions.

Beth brought the final documentation to Shadow Peak the following week. Not the individual practitioner outputs — those...