The planning board hearing room at eleven AM was a different animal from the public board talks I had attended. No graduate students with laptops. No developers in the good seats. A wood-panelled room with a long table, six board members, a moderator, and the specific tension of a space where something was going to be decided.
Eleanor's lawyers were already there when we arrived — three of them, in the expensive suits of people who billed at rates that made Priya's eyes do a specific professional calculation.
Priya looked at the three suits. She looked at her legal pad. She set it on the table with the quiet confidence of someone who had faced expensive suits before and had found them less formidable than they expected.
"Good morning," she said, to the suits collectively.
"Counsellor,"
