"Witness," I said.
Not a request. Not a declaration. The word that meant: *I am here and I see you and I'm asking the same in return.* The word that the Luna position was, at its core, about — the person in the pack whose particular authority is grounded in the act of paying attention.
The room was absolutely still.
Then Richard Holt, who had abstained from the preliminary vote and who had been watching me for three weeks with the specific evaluative attention of someone who takes institutions seriously, made a sound in his throat.
The acknowledgment sound. The one that meant: *yes. That's the correct answer.*
The council acknowledged in sequence, each member in turn, the particular sound of each voice different but the meaning the same: *received. Witnessed. Confirmed.*
The ceremony
