The academy waited three full days before summoning them for results, and Ren spent every one of those days doing nothing more ambitious than lying flat on his back, letting his body remember how to exist without being actively broken.
The healing serums Zephyr fed him twice daily helped considerably. So did sleep, real sleep, uninterrupted by suppression bands or collapsing platforms or a woman with density where an aura should be.
By the morning of the third day, the ache in his ribs had faded to a dull, manageable throb, and the shallow gash along his hairline had closed into a thin, pale line that Lia insisted, with entirely too much enthusiasm, made him look "properly dangerous."
The summons came at dawn, delivered by badge chime in the same crisp, businesslike tone as every other academy announcement.
[ALL FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS ARE TO REPORT TO THE CENTRAL AMPHITHEATER AT MIDDAY FOR EVALUATION RESULTS AND MONTHLY DISTRIBUTION.]
