Mahir, beside her, was reading the succession framework draft.
He set it down after twenty minutes.
"The final clause," he said. "Section twelve. The contested transition protocol."
"What about it," she said.
"It establishes that the governance framework continues independently of any individual," he said. "Including the person who built it."
"Yes," she said.
"He's going to read that and understand exactly what it means," Mahir said. "That you built something designed to function after you're gone."
"Yes," she said.
"That's the thing that makes going to him the right approach," he said. "Someone who built something designed to outlast themselves is not a threat. They're infrastructure."
She looked at him.
"Infrastructure," she said.
"Someone who builds for permanence rather than for control," he said. "That's what the framework demonstrates." He paused. "Make sure that's visible in how you present it."
"Yes," she said.
She wrote for another hour.
