NEVA POV --- We didn't leave immediately. The chamber emptied slowly, the specific reluctant dispersal of people who had witnessed something they understood mattered beyond the ordinary weight of council business. Sera Voss found me once more in the corridor, said nothing this time, only inclined her head with an expression that communicated everything words would have made smaller. Wren's father approached — carefully, at a distance he clearly understood he hadn't earned the right to close. "Wren," he said. She turned. "I read the filing," he said. "Before the session. I wanted you to know I understand now what the historical misreading actually meant. Not just for the family's strategy. For—" He stopped, searching. "For everyone who was hurt because we misunderstood what we were l

