Sakh'arran called the full council the morning before Khao'khen departed for the Arch with Brekka Hammerfall. The room held seven: Khao'khen, Kael, Vor'gath, Brekka Hammerfall, Durrek Stonepick, Arka'garr, and Rakh'ash'tha, who had returned from the Arch two days prior. It was the first time every significant party in the coalition's emerging shape had occupied the same room simultaneously.
Sakh'arran stood at the front of the room with his assessment document and did not sit. He read it aloud and he did not summarize or abbreviate. He had written it to be heard as well as read.
"The five-year window," he began, "was a framework built on a specific assumption: the primary threat to Yohan's permanence was political and military, arising from the Threian Kingdom's eventual decision to revisit the treaty's provisions. That framework remains valid for its original purpose. What it no longer does is describe the most immediate threat."
He moved to the first section.
