DANTE

It was supposed to happen on a Saturday.

Marcus had the arrangements made, the small outdoor space in the eastern courtyard cleared and prepared, the specific minimal version Kira and I had agreed on, just the people at the table, no formal proceedings, no Allied Council involvement, just the two of us and the people who had been in the rooms when things mattered.

On Friday evening it rained.

Not the polite rain that stopped before morning. The sustained committed rain of a winter ...