"She's not most people," Ken said.
"No," Mahir agreed. "She isn't."
Silence again.
Cael, the relief knight, was doing his rounds at the far end of the corridor. His footsteps were quiet, professional.
"She said something to me last week," Ken said. "After the forum. I was leaving and she called me back and said —" He stopped for a moment. Seemed to be choosing words carefully. "She said she knew that my standing outside her door for three days wasn't about protocol. That's all. Just that."
Mahir looked at him.
"That's the most she's ever said to me about anything that wasn't governance," Ken said. "In eight months."
"Did it mean something?" Mahir asked.
Ken looked at the closed office door for a long moment.
"It meant everything," he said quietly. "It was two sentences and it meant everything."
Mahir nodded.
"She's learning," Mahir said. "Slowly. One awkward conversation at a time. One garden visit at a time."
