The board tried to separate Ren first.
That was how I knew we had chosen the correct path.
North Arbitration Room Two had been rearranged overnight. The crescent table remained. The judgment crystals remained. The clean white stone remained. But the witness chairs had been moved.
Not far.
Just enough.
Aiden's chair sat on the left, beside the hero-line recording crystal. Seraphina's chair sat near the Church observer, as if proximity could turn her testimony back into doctrine. Liora's chair sat in the combat witness section. Elara's in the "environmental anomaly" section, which would have made her laugh if she were crueler. Niko had been placed near the technical assessors.
Ren's chair sat alone.
One narrow desk. One crystal. One inkpot. No companion seat.
Support Witness, apparently, meant isolated until proven useful.
