He was in the library when Kendrick came back.
He had known he would be.
The library was where he went now when something was settling.
Not processing.
Settling.
The difference was important.
Processing was active — the mind working through a thing, turning it over, mapping it.
Settling was different.
Settling was when the map was already made and the mind was just — living in the territory.
He was living in the territory.
---
Kendrick came in quietly.
He sat across from Damian.
He didn't say anything immediately.
This was one of the things.
One of the specific things that had been accumulating since day one into the shape of something Damian now had a name for.
Kendrick did not fill silences with the first available words.
He sat in them.
He let them be what they were.
Damian looked at him.
"It's done," Damian said.
Not a question.
"Yes."
"How is she."
Kendrick: "Angry. Composed. Both."
Damian: "Did she know about the bond?"
"Victor told her weeks ago."
