The gathering does not look like anything people prepared for.
That is the first lesson.
The hall is wide and unfinished, its stone walls scarred by old repairs and newer neglect. There is no raised platform. No banners. No table long enough to imply hierarchy. Light enters unevenly through high windows, leaving pockets of shadow that no one tries to banish.
People arrive in clusters, then drift apart.
No one tells them where to sit.
So they don’t sit at all.
Those from the city enter quietly, spreading instinctively along the edges. They do not claim space. They observe it.
Others are already there.
Some look tired in a way the city recognizes immediately.
Some look guarded.
Some look angry and not yet ready to admit why.
The shadow coils, alert.
This room is not neutral. It i
