The room felt different after seventeen men left it.
The table remained where it had been. The map still covered most of its surface. But the atmosphere had changed. Five people occupied a space that had recently held more than twenty, and the silence settled differently because of it.
The deployment markers from the earlier briefing still sat where the dismissed captains had last moved them.
Col stood on the table's left side, close enough to the map to study it without leaning. Cedd stood two places to his right with both arms at his sides.
Swen had taken position near the map's far edge. Godric remained at the far end of the table, exactly where he had stood through both meetings.
Lewin occupied the near edge of the map where he had stopped after entering the room. No one had gave him a place, but he had chosen one that let him reach every section of the table quickly if needed.
Beorn studied the map first. Then he looked at the five men surrounding it.
