The notice went up on the Class Z board before anyone had finished breakfast.
Soren read it twice.
Because the man who signed it had come in person to watch it get nailed up.
Vasquez Sr. stood by the door with two Council aides and a posture that said he had cleared his morning to be here.
He wore grey.
He did not look at Soren once, which told Soren the whole thing was about him.
[DING! — Inter-Class Tournament posted. Prize: one year Council immunity. Penalty for last-place class: dissolution.]
The aide read it out anyway, because the point was to say it in the room.
"Class Z will justify its allocation in the inter-class tournament," the aide said. "Or the academy will recover the resources."
"Recover," Hansel said, near the back. "That means us."
"It means the room," the aide said. "And the funding and the slots and the names on the door."
Vasquez Sr. let that sit. Then he left, and the door he had paid an aide to talk in front of closed behind him.
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