The weight of that absence had been sitting in the hall since the session opened, waiting for the mont soone with the nerve to use it decided to. Orion's faction used it with exactly enough delicacy to make it sound like historical context rather than an accusation.
"The Night faction has represented the complete Starweaver family in the absence of its 'Day leader' for more than a year," the representative said. No drama. The tone of soone establishing necessary background so that the argunts to follow could be understood correctly. "During that period, the Night faction has assud the majority of active defensive functions in Starweaver territory, including the northern Yino sector during the recent attack, where our verified contribution to flow control and to repelling the contaminated giant artifact exceeded the elimination counts of nearly any other contingent present."
Julius raised a hand before the representative could elaborate.
"The contribution in that northern sector," he said, "presents a correlation with the behavior of the mutant flow in the current attack that rits attention before it is registered as a rit."
The representative's expression shifted. "What kind of 'correlation' with those creatures could possibly diminish our faction's contribution?"
"The mutant flow displayed, and continues to display, patterns of direction and concentration that are statistically inconsistent with the docunted behavior of these creatures when operating without what we would recognize as external direction." Julius said it toward the hall, not toward Orion directly, the difference between making a case and making a confrontation, placed precisely. "Communications exchanged with the Night faction during this crisis period regarding the 'repositioning' of the flow, interpreted in context, suggest an awareness of where that flow would be directed that exceeds what passive observation of their movent patterns would explain."
He paused.
"Creatures operating without direction scatter… Creatures that concentrate respond to sothing. The question of what, or who, concentrated them in that specific sector is relevant to evaluating whether the defensive contribution there was a response to a threat, or the 'managent of a threat' that soone had redirected there deliberately."
The hall processed that slowly.
The master of ceremonies acknowledged it without comnt, because his function was to record, not to evaluate. But he noted the quality of the silence that followed, the kind that happened when sothing landed in a room where everyone was paying close enough attention to understand exactly what had just been said.
Orion realized the representative was getting nervous so he moved for the first ti since taking his position. Not sharply… Just the adjustnt of soone who had heard sothing he had considered possible and was going to handle it the way he had prepared to handle it.
"Lord Dravenholm is offering an interpretation," he said, with a calm that was almost admirably complete. "The ssages he ntions can be consulted. In none of them did I write or accept that I was capable of controlling the mutants. What I did was use available information about their movent patterns to anticipate where to concentrate offensive resources and to suggest defensive repositioning that would allow you to manage them more effectively." A deliberate pause. "Anticipating the behavior of a known threat is not the sa as controlling it. If Lord Dravenholm has concrete evidence of direct control, he should present it. If what he has is a reading of my words that lends itself to assumptions, that is not evidence. It is interpretation." It was the kind of accusation that necessitated docuntation, and Julius knew that perfectly well.
The representative tried to recover the flow. "Then the managent of the mutant flow during the most critical period was maintained thanks to…"
"Its director," said Julius, interrupting again.
The temperature of the hall changed. Not abruptly, the kind of change produced by words that land in a space where everyone is listening closely enough to register exactly what was just said again. Julius said it in the sa tone he used for data, because accusations delivered at the sa volu as facts are sotis more convincing than the ones accompanied by emphasis.
"Lord Dravenholm persists in suggesting that I control the mutants," Orion said. The calm was still there, still almost perfectly maintained. "That would be a notable ability. But again… does he have evidence of that?"
"I have the movent patterns calculated," Julius replied.
"The behavioral patterns of creatures that attack where they find the least resistance are consistent with their recorded nature," uttered Orion. "That they concentrated in the southern sector when that sector had fewer defenders requires no additional explanation."
"Exactly… The southern sector certainly had fewer defenders during this period, and I can demonstrate that," said Arturo from his position, with the voice of soone who has done the arithtic and trusts it. "But also in the previous attack, where your faction made its supposed contribution, there were different weaknesses in the wall that were not exploited." A dramatic beat before the attack.
"One of your two argunts doesn't make sense then."
A good portion of the room stirred at that, the particular movent of an audience recognizing that soone had just been placed in an uncomfortable corner.
Orion considered it for a mont.
"And what then? It doesn't matter what the truth is." He said it with the deliberateness of soone changing the terrain rather than defending the ground he'd been on. "Even if I had that capability, even if so, then my contribution to keeping these creatures away from this city for years would be considerably greater than this castle has ever acknowledged." The conditional had been placed with precision, neither confirming nor denying, seating the argunt on both possibilities simultaneously.
"And the reason would not be corruption… On the contrary, it would an that my understanding of these creatures surpasses that of anyone else in this hall. That I have invested years in studying them, in understanding their patterns, in developing the ans to work them in a controlled way."
The crystals ca out from beneath his cloak with the gesture of soone presenting a tool, not a threat, a demonstration.
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