Didi pressed her courier notebook against her ribs beneath the recessed arcade while council doors thudded shut behind the guards. From there she could watch the throne and keep the registrar's seal under her satchel flap until debate needed it.
She held her three-Shard pressure close while Atheron's twenty Shards weighed on the chamber.
'Three against twenty, so shut up and keep the pen moving.'
The pages lifted beneath her thumb as her father's attention swept toward the nobles, and she clamped the cover down. Hajin's southern charter filled the first page, while his western Gate expedition followed beneath the clasp as its own entry.
'Separate places, however conveniently those vultures blur them into one breath.'
Flint stood nearest the dais, his petition folded between his hands, while Vahn watched its wax instead of the throne. Across the aisle, Crimson's Red Matriarch kept clear of both, leaving neither noble room to fold her into their claim.
