The next two days were the loud kind of quiet.
Sable's bird arrived first, the morning after the perimeter check. It landed on the table while Due was midway through the appendix on second-order effects. Following that, he spilled ink across half a page until Elara caught the bottle.
Due exhaled deeply.
"I will redo the page," he said, in the tone of a man who had decided to be unbothered about something that had bothered him.
"You will," Elara replied.
"Having said that, please stop being correct about everything before I have had my tea."
She poured him tea and said nothing else. He read the bird's note while the ink dried.
It was Sable's handwriting, brief and direct.
Valve has been reassigned. Further from Caldren's direct command. Cause unclear, however, likely both his hand and Caldren's at once. He spent an hour at a record-keeper's office near Therasia's outer border, alone, no escort – worth noting.
