The temptation was to silence him. To cast him out, to return to the comfortable, familiar chaos they had created. It would be so easy, so simple. But Lyra, who had been the first to find her voice in the dissonance, now spoke out in defense of harmony. ’He is a part of our world now,’ she said, her voice a fragile counterpoint to the growing discord. ’His truth is a part of our truth. To deny him is to deny ourselves.’