Zevran stopped going back.
Not permanently — the Hold still required him, the pack still required him, Cael Orin still sent morning briefings with the methodical consistency of someone who believed that good information prevented most problems before they became problems. But the pattern shifted. Where he had been spending three or four days at the Hold and returning to Floor Five, he was now spending two days at the Hold and spending the rest at Floor Five.
He didn't announce this.
It happened the way significant changes happened between two people who had stopped needing to announce things — gradually, then completely.
Nara noticed it on a Tuesday when she realised she'd had coffee with him every morning for eleven days.
She mentioned it that evening.
"You've been here every mornin
