The announcement came on a Wednesday, in the middle of a footwork session, delivered by Commander Strut himself rather than through the usual channel of Vane simply telling them what was happening next.
Strut did not appear in the arena often. When he did, the room changed — not dramatically, not in any way that would have been obvious to someone who had never been in the room before, but the quality of attention shifted, the way the quality of attention shifted in any space when the person with the most authority in it entered. Vane registered this with a slight adjustment of his posture that was the closest thing to deference Nero had ever seen from him, and then folded his arms and stood to the side, which was all the instruction the candidates needed to stop what they were doing and stand at rest.
Strut surveyed the twelve of them without any particular expression. He was carrying a document, which he did not look at.
