It started with the seating arrangement.
Not the important kind. Not a diplomatic seating arrangement with territorial implications or a formal dinner with protocol requirements. The arrangement for the weekly coordination meeting, which was attended by Vaelor, Aelara, Maren, Cael, and occasionally Caelum when he had relevant information, and which had been happening in the same room at the same table in the same configuration for four months.
Aelara had a point about the configuration.
The point was simple: the current arrangement put Maren and Cael on the same side of the table, which meant their combined field of view covered only one direction, which meant that when both of them were looking at documents they were not watching the room, which in a security sense was a gap that did not need to exist.
She had raised this two weeks ago. Maren had agreed immediately. Cael had agreed immediately. Vaelor had said he would think about it.
He had thought about it for two weeks.
