Bramwell's POV
The territorial council framework took shape over six weeks in a manner I had not anticipated: slowly, argumentatively, and with a great deal of unexpected consensus in places I'd expected conflict, and unexpected conflict in places I'd expected consensus.
The exile abolition passed on the first vote. Unanimously, including Cassian, who said nothing when it was proposed and voted yes with a directness that suggested he'd been thinking about it longer than he wanted to admit.
The rotating leadership structure produced three weeks of detailed argument about what rotating meant in practice, who counted as a territory for representation purposes, and what the transition protocols would look like. Lenora sat in these sessions and said almost nothing, but the things she said —
