"No," Aldous said. "He didn't."
He stepped through the portal.
It closed.
Eve stood in the courtyard alone for a moment.
She thought about Aldous's face when he got to the fourth page.
That was it.
That was what her father had understood and what she was understanding now.
You didn't change the Conclave through force or legal process or political maneuvering alone.
You changed it by making people understand things differently.
By putting the right numbers in front of the right people at the right time.
By doing the work.
She had done the work.
Damian appeared beside her.
"How did it go," he said.
"He's taking the folder back to his partners," she said.
"And?"
"And I gave him a week," she said. "Not two."
Damian looked at her.
"Was that wise," he said.
"He respects directness," she said. "He came here expecting to be managed. If I'd given him two weeks he would have known he could push me." She paused. "One week tells him something different."
