We gather at Talia's apartment the next evening, the same careful space she chose weeks ago for conversations too dangerous to have anywhere near the Exchange. Renn joins by video call, propped up against his couch cushions, still pale but stubbornly present despite Talia's insistence he could skip this one.
"I'm not missing the actual decision," he says, cutting off her objection before she finishes making it. "Benched from fieldwork doesn't mean benched from planning."
"Fine," Talia concedes, turning her laptop screen so he can see the rest of us properly. "Let's get started."
Corin arrives last, slipping in through the back entrance Talia specified for exactly this kind of meeting, still cautious about being seen too openly with people Calloway's clearly watching now.
"Venue securit
