[Tau stayed in the middle of everything long enough to check on Chronee and her dad. But she was tired, and she was far beyond being the mood for celebrating.]

[While other people seemed to be praised, she could hear them whisper about her. She wanted to just disappear for a while, but...not only would that probably make the whispers worse, she just was out of energy to do it.]

[Instead, she took one look around, trying to memorize the happy feel of everyone else to dream about later, and tried her best to sneak off.]