Guardians? What possible use would an old widow be to them? Resa found herself wondering this as she prepared for the meeting that morning. She found herself wondering it again as she sat among the others that afternoon. She hadn’t spoken with many of them in several decades, save for a passing cordial nod when they met on the street. Indeed, Devon and Rickas were the only two she had had much to do with after the birth of her children. 

Resa surveyed those before her, a bit coolly and extremely calculatingly, as they spoke. They had all made names for themselves and Resa felt pangs of envy rise in her stomach. This envy though was immediately replaced with a feeling of guilt and ungratefulness at her lot in life. For, although she would have chosen a far different path for herself, she was quick to acknowledge that her family was a blessing of no small consequence. 

Speaking of her children, she was preoccupied with their welfare and, quite frankly, a bit annoyed that she had been obliged to leave them in the care of her servants and her brother. Devon was the only other one among them with who was a parent, and he had but one child to look after. But what did Kanros or Seeker or any of the others know of such an obligation? Their words were pretty enough, and perhaps tinged with some bit of genuine concern, but the cynic in her doubted the true depths of their devotion to Dara. 

And yet, did such motives even matter? They had all been drawn together for the good of the community and there were pragmatic reasons for each of them to be there in the first place. But Resa tried to have as little to do with politics as possible, and this all seemed political in nature. The Raven’s wry smile and Rickas’ usual grandiloquence gave indication that her former comrades had changed little in the decades they spent apart, and again she felt a pang of envy and an accompanying sense of loss for her younger self. The suggestion of a festival seemed to be met with largely positive responses, though Resa found herself thinking it was a bit frivolous when there were such issues with education and food distribution. She said nothing though she found herself tempted to when Seeker spoke. During their travels together, she was somewhat predisposed to fighting with the assassin almost reflexively. Instead, however, she merely looked at the three men who had spoken with raised eyebrows.