The dinner was Maren's idea, which surprised nobody, organized the way Maren organized everything, with a seating plan and a time and a list of who needed to be told what in advance so that no one arrived unprepared for the occasion.
The occasion was simply: everyone together. First time. Mira had been at the Citadel for four days and had met everyone individually but not collectively and Maren had decided, without formally announcing that she had decided, that the collective version needed to happen before the week was out.
The letter from Aldric arrived that afternoon.
It was three pages, which for Aldric was restrained, and it was addressed to the dinner table collectively, which Maren read as instruction to bring it and read it aloud, which she did, which was how Aldric had intended it, which was why he had addressed it to the table.
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They sat down at the seventh bell.
