Silei let out a short, dry laugh. Hesta's words abruptly reminded her of her final conversation with Anna aboard the Ascending Bright.
Someone standing in the middle rarely shifted off-center. Was that how it worked? Through Hesta's argument, Silei suddenly understood how Anna saw her—neutral, upright, and perhaps so regular it bordered on tediously predictable.
She could not help thinking of Anna, especially when, just this past night, she had played another game of feeling out the rules in Madam Bronbo's old castle. Silei felt certain emotions rising uncontrollably inside her. Her first reaction was to hide them, so after adjusting herself, she looked rather deliberately in Hesta's direction. Fortunately, the young woman before her was still absorbed in moving her limbs, seemingly unaware of Silei's reaction just now.
Silei could not tell whether she felt relieved or even more annoyed. She closed her eyes for a moment, then turned and walked back to Hesta's side.
"If you're feeling all right now, we can talk about everything that happened at Madam Bronbo's last night. There are a lot of things I want to sync with you..."
Silei's tone was flat. She tried her best to suppress some of the irritation and unwillingness she felt at that moment, attempting to pull all her thoughts back to the present. She spoke of the calls she had made from the castle tonight that Hesta had not answered, of the Scepter Brooch on that old man, the broken elevator, the Deep Anchors that had suddenly appeared, the operation to seize Simoya, and Zoe, whose support had failed to arrive for so long during the fierce battle...
Throughout the entire account, Hesta repeatedly confirmed the details of "seizing Simoya." Silei described every image she remembered: how relentless those Deep Anchors had been, and how stubbornly