The banquet flowed on. Toast followed toast. Laughter rose and fell like waves. Musicians rotated through sets, occasionally replaced by dancers performing carefully choreographed routines.
If anyone noticed the slight change in Lin Mei's breathing, the extra steadiness in her gaze, they dismissed it as nerves settling. Inside, Lin Mei was a furnace of calm. The awakened power at her core didn't rage uncontrollably the way she'd always feared it would. It didn't scream for destruction or drown her mind in alien emotion. It simply was—vast, hot, heavy, patient.
Like a star.
It wanted to burn. It wanted to bend space. It wanted to expand until the world made sense. But it also listened. And right now, Lin Mei's will was iron.
'Not yet,' she told it silently as she laughed at an elder's joke. 'Wait. Let them commit. Let them all show their hands first.'
