Page 69 of The Last Remaining Light

Public presentation. Stars help her.

No matter how tightly she gripped the notes, they still trembled.

Lora leaned against the rear wall offering an aggressively encouraging thumbs-up that somehow worsened everything she was feeling. A few of the scholars had noticed, and chuckles or unintelligible murmurs could be heard throughout them.

Elowynn inhaled a deep breath. Held it. Let her lungs burn for a moment. Released it in a controlled exhale—

Then began speaking.

At first her voice emerged softer than intended, but once she picked up momentum and confidence, she let her research resound around the hall.

“The majority of post-Ash War aethercurrent stabilization records assume resonance collapse originates primarily from external force.” She gestured toward the illuminated diagrams rotating above the lecture platform. “However, pre-Vigil harmonic records suggest certain fractures began internally long before observable destabilization occurred.”

The murmurs in the room hushed.

Good, she thought. They were listening. This was encouraging.

Hopefully.

“The currents,” she continued, her voice steadier now, “appear capable of gradual harmonic degradation beneath prolonged imbalance. Particularly near regions where resonance manipulation exceeded natural recovery thresholds.”

There were Collegium scholars frowning at this while several Conclave scholars looked over at them, smug.

Elowynn noticed both reactions and continued.

“Which means neither preservation nor advancement alone solves the issue.”

Now the room was in total silence save for the thunder in the distance. All attention was focused solely on her.

“Restricting aethercurrent interaction entirely limits understanding,” Elowynn said. “Yet unchecked manipulation risks accelerating instability already present beneath the system itself.” Her gaze lifted toward the gathered scholars. “The contradiction is assuming the currents can survive either extreme indefinitely.”

Still, silence.

Then questions erupted everywhere at once.

By the time the lecture ended nearly a bell later, Elowynn’s hands still shook, but this time from adrenaline.

Something else had changed, too. After the lecture, the scholars no longer looked at her merely as the last surviving bloodline of House Selvicta.

Now they listened to her, the evidence she had brought forth making them more interested in what she had discovered.

Which, unfortunately, attracted Master Vaelor almost as soon as it was over.

“An ambitious presentation,” he said, voice low with a mocking undertone.

Elowynn turned from gathering her notes to find him standing near the lecture platform entrance watching her with a curious eye.

She suppressed a sigh, then looked back to her things.

“Thank you,” she replied, though she knew he didn't mean it as a compliment.

Vaelor stepped closer with slow, practiced steps. “Though some within the Conclave may question why you appear increasingly interested in Collegium methodologies.”

Always the subtle pressure. Elowynn straightened, her chin lifting as she met his gaze. “Understanding methodology is not endorsement, Master Vaelor.”

“No,” Vaelor agreed calmly. “But proximity shapes perspective, does it not?”

Something sharp twinged inside her chest. “I was under the impression that scholarship required examining all available knowledge.”