Callian didn't rush to fill the silence he created.
He let it stretch just long enough to make every leader on the opposite side sit with the uncomfortable truth he'd just laid out. No one interrupted. No one tried to salvage what had already been dismantled.
Only then did he continue.
"Zethara does not reject collaboration."
That line shifted the room.
Not dramatically. Not loudly.
But enough.
Because after everything he had just said, that statement wasn't generosity.
It was control choosing to remain open.
"And we do not disregard contribution where it exists," Callian added, voice steady, unbothered.
A few of the Alliance representatives leaned forward slightly. Careful. Calculating.
Still trying to find something to stand on.
Callian didn't look at them.
Not yet.
"As such," he continued, "Mikel's party will be granted residence privileges within Floor Forty's SafeZone."
That landed.
Harder than expected.
