The Cardinal College deliberated for eleven days.
Eleven days of closed sessions in the Cathedral's Chapter House — a stone chamber sealed from the outside, provisioned with food and water, governed by the Conclave rule that no Cardinal could leave until a recommendation was produced. The rule was ancient — dating to the first papal succession — and it served a single purpose: preventing deliberation from becoming delay.
The deliberation was, predictably, a confrontation between two candidates.
Cardinal Theron Krugvane: forty-nine years old, Cardinal of Ashenveil (Maren had stepped down to a pastoral role after the assassination attempt), twenty-three years of Crucible service, the most politically connected churchman in the kingdom. His pitch: the Crucible needed a political Pope — a leader who could engage with the Crown, the houses, and the kingdom's governance apparatus as an equal partner. The era of pastoral management was over. The era of institutional advocacy had begun.
