Astra was seated on the opposite side of the room from Seth. She looked at Orion when he came in and her expression did the small real smile very briefly and then returned to composed.
He took a seat that was not adjacent to anyone specific and put Cipher into storage and let Mist do the same and Luna sat in cat form on the seat beside him because Luna made her own decisions about seating arrangements and always had.
Serath came in two minutes later.
She had the documentation slate and the sharp-eyed expression and she moved through the room with the specific authority of someone who operated on a separate charter from everyone present and knew it and didn't make anything of it because she didn't need to.
She sat across from Orion.
Put the documentation slate on the table between them, face up.
He looked at it.
The top line read: Candidate Orion Ashbourne. Direct Imperial Recommendation. Category: Exceptional.
