He arrived at the Division assessment hall at the correct hour. Not early.
The room had been rearranged again, the way it had been rearranged for the C-Rank assessment. Board table with two administrative staff. Assessor Lindh at her small table, same position, same posture. Director along the right wall in his chair.
The Archivist General was against the left wall. Not at the board table. Not at Lindh's table. A plain chair, positioned slightly apart from every formal arrangement in the room. She sat in it the way she sat at her own desk—still, without performance of stillness, as if stillness was simply her natural state and had been for a long time.
She looked at Kai when he came in.
He sat in the assessment chair.
Lindh set her hands flat on the table.
"We'll begin," she said.
She read him for eleven minutes.
