The delegation departed three days later, and the compound settled back into its ordinary rhythm, as it always did once formal visitors had gone, though something about the household felt subtly different in their absence—a held breath released, or perhaps simply the natural quiet that follows any stretch of careful, performed hospitality. The extra hands in the kitchen returned to their usual duties. The main hall’s polished formality gave way, by the second evening, back to its familiar lived-in warmth. I found myself glad of the return to ordinary rhythms, even as some part of me noted, walking the quieter hallways, how much heavier the past week’s careful diplomacy had actually weighed on everyone without my fully registering it until the weight lifted.I found Selene in the library that evening, the same window seat, the same low fire, though something in her posture struck me as heavier than usual, weighted in a way I couldn’t immediately place.“Your father seemed pleased with
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