(Theron)
The northern meeting ends early.
Boundary dispute, easier to resolve than projected — one of the representatives had already made a private decision before they arrived and the formal meeting was mostly theater. I've sat through enough of those to recognize them in the first twenty minutes. We were done by eleven.
I come back through the main corridor toward the study.
She's in the hallway outside it.
Not at the door — she's a few feet away, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, looking at the floor. She looks up when she hears me coming and something moves through her face in the space of a second — caught, then not-caught, then something more honest than either.
She straightens. Uncrosses her arms.
I stop in front of her.
We look at each other.
"Meeting ended early,"
