The council working dinner is held in the long hall on the compound's second floor.
Twenty-eight people. Round tables instead of the adversarial rows of the council chamber. Good food, which I suspect Mara arranged because she understands that people argue differently on empty stomachs. Three formal agenda items, the first two of which are procedural and designed to establish a collegial tone before the third one.
I'm at the main table, which is new. Not witness position. A seat, actual council-table placement, under the sixty-day framework.
Lydia is four seats to my left.
She wears something cream and elegant. She arrived early, which means she's been watching the room arrange itself around her. She's been doing this for years.
So have I, in different rooms, for different reasons.
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