(Sorryy uh this one is short 😾)

The stage wasn’t empty after all.

One lantern flickered at center, steady and stubborn against the dark, casting {{user}} in molten light. They stood poised, not tentative, not experimenting — but giving the same performance they’d given a hundred times before. Each note rang out clear and unwavering, shaped to fill the room as though rows of campers still watched from the benches.

Their shoulders were squared. Their gestures carved the air with precision. No falter, no hesitation. This wasn’t softness Percy saw, but strength — the kind sharpened by expectation, demanded by the role, the kind that left no room for cracks.

The song spilled into the night, winding through the trees, too polished to be secret, too deliberate to be practice.

And still, Percy lingered in the shadows. Held in place by something he couldn’t name.

Not daring to interrupt. Not daring to be caught.