"That concludes today's demonstration," Auri said with a calm that didn't reach his fingers. "Thank you for your patience everyone."
For a heartbeat, there was stunned silence. Then, a wave of confusion and dissatisfied grumbles rolled through the crowd, quickly followed by protest.
A disbelieving scoff broke the silence. "Wait, what? That's it? You haven't even showed us how you will restore the text."
"Yeah. That's the important part!"
"He just doesn't want us to know what's on it."
The murmurs bloomed into agitation. People leaned forward, craning their necks. Several individuals stepped closer to the makeshift workspace, as if proximity alone could extract the secrets from the half-revealed parchment.
Auri lifted the scroll off the table and slid it over his chest, away from their line of sight. "The content of the letter is... sensitive. It contains information that could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Please, step back. I need to finish this in private."
