"I propose a vote," said Orion.

The master of ceremonies registered it.

"I propose that none of the recognitions described be transferred until an independent verification of five to ten years of tamer Patinder’s nature has been completed by a panel designated by this session." A pause, and then the next demand, even more unreasonable, delivered in the same measured tone. "And I propose that during that verification process, the tamer demonstrate to all of us each year his capacity to represent his own interests without the intermediation of those who have managed his education until now, before receiving anything!"

His eyes moved to Julius with something that wasn’t hostility... it was considerably more calculated than hostility.

"And if the young man is as capable as everyone claims, he can speak for himself, right? Let him do so!"

Almost everyone in the hall looked at Ren at the same time.

Ren’s head was still down.

He didn’t speak.

The silence that followed was the kind that would be extremely awkward and make the one in the center of attention stutter, the kind that fills a space in ways that arguments cannot fully clear afterward if not addressed in the same moment.

"This is absurd," said Arturo before the silence elongated anymore, with the voice of someone who had stopped containing what he was containing. "You are asking an exhausted tamer who has just cleared every protocol for these exact situations and demonstrations in the official exams and not less than at first place, who also just defended this city, to receive nothing and justify himself against accusations with no evidence while standing in a ceremony hall after a battle that left him debilitated to the point of barely being able to be here..."

"...He already passed every examination, the same examinations that all of you faced in your own youth, and with the highest marks!"

Several people in the hall nodded. The position wasn’t without support.

The problem was how much support the other position had.

The count, when the master of ceremonies formalized it, gave thirty percent for Orion’s proposal. Enough volume of dissent for a formal vote to be necessary...

But not enough for it to pass.

The girls exhaled.

Orion had lost the vote.

But Orion wasn’t finished.

"Fine... I understand that the proposal I just presented generates legitimate resistance," he said, and the shift in tone was subtle enough that the hall took a moment to register it.

"You are right." The concession was delivered with the ease of someone who had planned to make it. "I may have overstated things and been misunderstood, but my intention was never to harm anyone. My concern is genuine, and I believe I share that concern with many people in this room."

Another of those hateful dramatic pauses that, even if dramatic, Finch and Theodore would have found obnoxious.

"So let me propose something more reasonable."

Julius looked at him. The move had been there the whole time, waiting under the first proposal like a second layer.

"What if we agree that the recognitions be transferred to him gradually. Ten or twenty percent of the jurisdictional responsibility per year, with complete transparency toward all of us regarding the results."

The crystals in his hand moved gently, almost as an afterthought, a casual display of the threats he wasn’t being casual about. "With the final territorial tranche, specifically the lands defended by my faction from the former Goldcrest holdings that form part of the recognition, being managed during the initial period by a designated jurisdictional guardian who can guide the young man in administering territories of that complexity."

The last detestable calculated pause, long enough for most of the room to begin seeing their chance of personal benefit.

"I offer myself for that role... at the end of the line, not the front. And I propose that portions of the guardianship be distributed among other great families as shared temporary jurisdiction, so that the results are visible to the full chamber and do not depend on the evaluation of any single party."

The temperature of the hall shifted.

Not dramatically. The way a room shifts when something that appeared to be a political position becomes, without announcement, a proposal for distributing resources.

Several families that had been on the neutral side of the debate began calculating things that had nothing to do with the nature of Ren Patinder, things that had to do with what exactly that "shared temporary jurisdiction" meant in terms of access to territories the recognition included.

The math was quick, it was personal and it changed where people were standing.

This new proposal passed with just over half the available support.

Arturo’s jaw tightened more and Larissa, from her position, noticed but couldn’t do much as she was managing her own rage.

Julius didn’t change his expression. But his eyes ran the calculation that was made when evaluating a move that could no longer be undone, not whether it had happened, but how much real damage it represented and where.

Yet this wasn’t the end or a real loss still...

The real damage, assessed clearly, was limited for now.

Orion had not managed to block Ren’s recognitions. He had not managed to redirect anything that belonged to Ren directly into his own hands.

What he had managed was to get a foot in the door before it closed, and to buy time... time during which he could build political stability, develop the argument gradually, and position himself in the most strategically valuable territories of the recognition while Ren was inside a process of "transparent guardianship" that everyone, but most importantly Orion himself, was supervising.

And in that time, anything could happen.

Julius knew that.

Orion knew that.

And both of them knew the other one knew.

For now, Ren’s immediate interests were not at risk. The session continued with the boy standing in the center of the hall, head still down, not having said a single word during the entire exchange that had just decided significant portions of his future.

Ren had not reacted to anything that had been said.

He was just there.

Still.

The master of ceremonies registered the agreed terms, verified that the quorum was sufficient for the vote to be binding, and raised his eyes toward the hall to announce the next item on the agenda.

"The session proceeds to the recognitions of Miss Luna Starweaver."