Regina Vance came to the Blackforge gatehouse at the fourth hour with a document case she had carried out of a burning quarter. She had asked for private sanctuary the night before, then arrived early, which Luna has said since was the only nervous thing about her.
Vell was on the far side of the table with his right arm strapped across his chest under Yenna's instruction. He did not get up when she came in, which four people in that room have mentioned in their accounts since.
Thirty-one Ivory hunters had signed Blackforge paper or defected outright since the formation came apart, out of a guild that fielded ninety. She came to the gatehouse without an escort, which two of her own officers have since described as the moment they understood the arithmetic.
Yenna sat at the end with the emergency log open plus a pen tied to her wrist by a length of cord. Luna took the chair nearest the window, where the light was best for reading the second page of anything first.
