LYSSARA
I found him in the study at midnight. Not unusual for Thalric to be awake at midnight. He governed in the specific hours when the pack house was quiet, and the correspondence had been cleared, and what remained was the thinking that the ordinary function did not leave room for.
What was unusual was the document on the desk. Not governance correspondence. Not coalition reports. Ironveil's founding documents. Old in the specific way of things handled by many hands across many generations. The Ironveil seal was worn to near invisibility. The binding was repaired twice by people who understood the documents mattered and wanted the mattering to continue.
He had not heard me come in. Thalric heard everything. Six years of governing alone had built the specific alertness of a man who a
