Elias stepped into the open space beside the table and tried not to think about how many people in the room had known his father better than he had.
That thought had bad teeth.
Dots stayed quiet inside the shard. He could feel her attention, small and close, like a hand at his back without the pressure.
The Chairwoman looked down at her tablet.
"State your name, current block assignment, and reason for accepting the officer track."
Elias almost said the easy version. Cook. Survivor. Confused man with a shard stuck under his skin who kept being moved between rooms by people with better shoes.
He doubted that would help.
"Elias Kael, A Block, and before the shard I was a chef, while after the shard I am still working out what that means beyond being harder to kill than expected. I accept the officer track because refusing it does not make me safer, and because people around me keep paying for mistakes made by stronger people."
A few board members shifted.
