The interpreter's name was Lena, and she was exceptional. Aria understood this within three exchanges. Lena signed with the ease and precision of someone who had lived the language rather than studied it — clean transitions, minimal lag, a vocabulary that was both professional and human. She did not interpret with the faint condescension of someone doing a service. She interpreted the way a good translator translated: as a presence that made itself invisible so that the communication could be visible.
They spent forty minutes together in a small private room off the main entrance of the Meridian Club, going through context. Names, relationships, likely conversational territory. Lena had clearly done her own preparation — she already knew the names of the board members and had a general se
