Divergent Paths

Trudging through the entrance into the hall he felt as if he had fought several battles, or maybe even the entire war, last night. Certainly it wasn't his lack of sleep that left him feeling so drained. He gradually became aware that the noise level in the Great Hall, which had been a bit louder than normal come to think of it, had abruptly dropped to almost nothing. In fact, it had dropped to exactly nothing. The room was suddenly as quiet as a graveyard at midnight.