Chapter 104

Aria's POV

The coordinator meeting happened in the second week of January.

All fourteen coordinators. Both hub leads. Rendell's written endorsement, transmitted in advance, which carried weight with the territories that were still calibrating how seriously to take anything originating from Shadow Peak versus how seriously to take something that had earned the confederation's support.

Beth presented the institute proposal herself, standing again, with the ease of someone presenting something for the second time that had been strengthened by the first audience's questions. She'd spent December answering Corinna's structural questions. The funding model was clear. The governance was clear. The selection process — a combination of nomination and...