Gallus took the last few minutes of time they had to observe those around him. Most had read the notes to their satisfaction and were simply discussing amongst themselves, while others were taking more time to read all the detail over again. It was only with a sideways glance that he got a hint of Ri'vashi's discomfort.

The meeting reconvened with the intermittent singing of chair legs against the floor and the diminishing murblings of the attendants. Their eyes all shined forward to Meesei's end of the table to listen to what was coming next. Gallus looked back with no fear in his mind. When Meesei called upon Ri'vashi to speak, Gallus at first brought his eyes to the table in front of him, but the nudging silence drew his attention to Ri'vashi again.

Up until now, Gallus trusted Ri'vashi's confidence in speaking. However, as her hesitation continued, her doubt spread to Gallus as well. After a glance to the now confused eyes of the meeting, Gallus leaned his head over slightly and laid a hand on Ri'vashi's upper arm. "You alright?" he asked quietly.

As important as this proposal was, Ri'vashi needed to be the one to announce it.

[hr]
Involuntarily, Sabine's eyes momentarily widened at La'khay saying as much as she did in front of La'tahne. That was personal information. Sabine's neck felt warm with embarrassment for a moment before she conceded that it was too late to take the words back.

As for Peiter, his fearful reaction was something that made Sabine smile. It was not as if he would be harmed at all. Sabine looked over his body briefly to consider and caught his eyes. "You could try it," Sabine suggested without commitment. She was actually curious to see how he would look after La'khay's treatment but didn't want to force him. Sabine added after a giggle, "It will not be worse than the thorns."