Kael
The examiner had removed the extra chair.
There had been two beside her desk on my last visit. Now one stood against the wall beneath a stack of empty folders.
I noticed that before I noticed the completed report.
"Would you like someone with you?" she asked.
"No."
She left the chair where it was.
I sat on the seventh morning of the month with the question from my notebook folded inside my coat.
Did the earlier activity continue, or had it ended before the later circulation began?
I no longer needed the paper to remember it.
The examiner placed the source comparison between us.
"We've completed the interval review. A second examiner checked the interpretation against the original observations."
"And?"
"I'll show you the sequence first."
My hand tightened on my knee.
She saw it.
"I will answer the question," she said. "I want you to understand what the answer rests on."
I nodded.
