"Cressida said you drafted them in an afternoon," he said.
"The framework structure was already there. I just followed where the gaps were."
He was quiet for a moment.
"The tier definitions are going to be what makes this framework functional," he said. "The rest of it is architecture. This is load-bearing."
I looked at him.
"I know," I said.
"I'm saying it because it should be said." He held my gaze. "You built something today that three packs are going to use for decades."
The particular quality of him saying it — not performing a compliment, not managing my response, just naming the thing accurately because it was accurate — settled in my chest the way the true things settled. Without ceremony. Just there.
"Cormac helped," I said.
"Yes," he said. "You both did." A pause. "I wan
