The projection absorbed this calmly.
Her gaze drifted once more across the gathered students, pausing briefly on their battered states. Then her eyes lowered back to Rynne.
"What is the issue?"
Her tone was no longer gentle. It had shifted into something firmer, more direct. The voice of an authority figure now fully present.
Rynne did not hesitate this time.
She raised her hand and pointed upward. Directly at Michael's suspended figure in the air.
"The Federation wants to take a student of the academy without explanation."
Her arm shifted slightly, finger moving, now pointing at the two Rank Four superpowers hovering above. Her expression, usually composed, now carried a rare trace of open displeasure.
"And they refused to let the academy intervene."
The projection followed the line of her disciple's gesture. Her eyes landed first on Michael. Then her gaze shifted slowly toward Caelum and the military old man beside him.
