Kai walked in.
Not because the invitation was safe. Because refusing it in the open road with the whole settlement watching would tell Maret more than sitting across from her would.
The older man followed. Liora came last and closed the door behind her. Neral stayed outside without being asked, which meant he had already decided he was more useful as a set of ears in the road than a body in the room. Mira moved to the far side of the care house and sat down near the wall. She did not look frightened. She looked like someone watching a negotiation that concerned her without being about her.
Peva had made herself absent. The room was clean, well-lit by a wide window, and very quiet.
Maret sat at the small table in the centre and waited for the others to find positions. She did not rush that process. She had the kind of patience that came not from calm but from confidence—the patience of someone who already knew how the conversation would go and was simply waiting for it to begin.
