Northern and the council president sat in complete silence, neither speaking for nearly twenty minutes.
Northern had closed his eyes, letting the cold wind brush against his skin as he resonated with the quiet rhythm of the park. The girl sat beside him with her legs crossed, posture composed, as if waiting for something unspoken to settle.
Then… he felt a soft poke against his side.
Northern opened his eyes and turned his gaze toward her.
She was holding out a stainless steel bottle.
"A… water bottle?" he asked, brows faintly furrowed in confusion.
"It's an item that keeps things warm," she replied calmly. "There's tea inside. I thought it might help with the cold."
Her voice was hoarse—yet laced with a strange, melodious beauty. The sound stood at odds with her short stature, at least based on Northern's assumptions about what someone so small should sound like.
He looked at her outstretched hand, unmoving for a moment.
