The weight of that absence had been sitting in the hall since the session opened, waiting for the moment someone with the nerve to use it decided to.

Orion’s faction used it with exactly enough delicacy to make it sound like historical context rather than an accusation.

"The Night faction has represented the complete Starweaver family in the absence of its ’Day leader’ for more than a year," the representative said.

No drama. The tone of someone establishing necessary background so that the arguments to follow could be understood correctly.

"During that period, the Night faction has assumed the majority of active defensive functions in Starweaver territory, including the northern Yino sector during the recent attack, where our verified contribution to flow control and to repelling the contaminated giant artifact exceeded the elimination counts of nearly any other contingent present."

Julius raised a hand before the representative could elaborate.

"The contribution in that northern sector," he said, "presents a correlation with the behavior of the mutant flow in the current attack that merits attention before it is registered as a merit."

The representative’s expression shifted. "What kind of ’correlation’ with those creatures could possibly diminish our faction’s contribution?"

"The mutant flow displayed, and continues to display, patterns of direction and concentration that are statistically inconsistent with the documented behavior of these creatures when operating without what we would recognize as external direction." Julius said it toward the hall, not toward Orion directly, the difference between making a case and making a confrontation, placed precisely.

"Communications exchanged with the Night faction during this crisis period regarding the ’repositioning’ of the flow, interpreted in context, suggest an awareness of where that flow would be directed that exceeds what passive observation of their movement patterns would explain."

He paused.

"Creatures operating without direction scatter... Creatures that concentrate respond to something. The question of what, or who, concentrated them in that specific sector is relevant to evaluating whether the defensive contribution there was a response to a threat, or the ’management of a threat’ that someone had redirected there deliberately."

The hall processed that slowly.

The master of ceremonies registered it without comment, because his function was to record, not to evaluate. But he noted the quality of the silence that followed, the kind that happened when something landed in a room where everyone was paying close enough attention to understand exactly what had just been said.

Orion realized the representative was getting nervous so he moved for the first time since taking his position. Not sharply... Just the adjustment of someone who had heard something he had considered possible and was going to handle it the way he had prepared to handle it.

"Lord Dravenholm is offering an interpretation," he said, with a calm that was almost admirably complete. "The messages he mentions can be consulted. In none of them did I write or accept that I was capable of controlling the mutants. What I did was use available information about their movement patterns to anticipate where to concentrate offensive resources and to suggest defensive repositioning that would allow you to manage them more effectively."

A deliberate pause.

"Anticipating the behavior of a known threat is not the same as controlling it. If Lord Dravenholm has concrete evidence of direct control, he should present it. If what he has is a reading of my words that lends itself to assumptions, that is not evidence. It is interpretation."

It was the kind of accusation that required documentation, and Julius knew that perfectly well.

The representative tried to recover the flow. "Then the management of the mutant flow during the most critical period was maintained thanks to..." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Its director," said Julius, interrupting again.

The temperature of the hall changed. Not abruptly, the kind of change produced by words that land in a space where everyone is listening closely enough to register exactly what was just stated again.

Julius stated it in the same tone he used for data, because accusations delivered at the same volume as facts are sometimes more convincing than the ones accompanied by emphasis.

"Lord Dravenholm persists in suggesting that I control the mutants," Orion said. The calm was still there, still almost perfectly maintained. "That would be a notable ability. But again... does he have evidence of that?"

"I have the movement patterns calculated," Julius replied.

"The behavioral patterns of creatures that attack where they find the least resistance are consistent with their documented nature," said Orion. "That they concentrated in the southern sector when that sector had fewer defenders requires no additional explanation."

"Exactly... The southern sector certainly had fewer defenders during this period, and I can demonstrate that," stated Arturo from his position, with the voice of someone who has done the arithmetic and trusts it. "But also in the previous attack, where your faction made its supposed contribution, there were different weaknesses in the wall that were not exploited."

A dramatic beat before the attack.

"One of your two arguments doesn’t make sense then."

A good portion of the room stirred at that, the particular movement of an audience recognizing that someone had just been placed in an uncomfortable corner.

Orion considered it for a moment.

"And what then? It doesn’t matter what the truth is." He said it with the deliberateness of someone changing the terrain rather than defending the ground he’d been on. "Even if I had that capability, even if so, then my contribution to keeping these creatures away from this city for years would be considerably greater than this castle has ever acknowledged."

The conditional had been placed with precision, neither confirming nor denying, seating the argument on both possibilities simultaneously.

"And the reason would not be corruption... On the contrary, it would mean that my understanding of these creatures surpasses that of anyone else in this hall. That I have invested years in studying them, in understanding their patterns, in developing the means to work them in a controlled way."

The crystals came out from beneath his cloak with the gesture of someone presenting a tool, not a threat, a demonstration.