The assessment chamber was smaller than Vane expected — a plain stone room with a single long table, the five elders seated along one side, Isole's mother at the center, Sael standing at the far wall with a logging crystal already active and humming.
Isole stood alone at the room's open end, no table in front of her, no chair. She'd told him, the night before, that standing was deliberate — she wanted nothing between herself and the panel that could be mistaken for a barrier she was hiding behind.
Vane stood by the door, exactly where he'd stood for the certifier, and said nothing.
"State your case," the lead elder said. An old man, voice dry as paper, unhurried in a way that gave nothing away about which direction he leaned.
