Sera arrived at the café twenty minutes early and chose a table from which she could see the door.
The place smelled of coffee and wet wool. Surveyors from the office across the street came in carrying cases and rolled maps. Two argued over a measurement while waiting for their drinks; one held a pencil against the table as if it were a ruler.
Sera put her folder on the empty chair beside her. The original readings remained at home. She had brought copies of the dated measurements, Jo Varela’s independent confirmation, and the gate assessment bearing her mentor’s signature.
She checked the pages again, though she knew their order. At the shelter, she had first estimated the junction too high and too close to the strongest point. Jo’s independent work corrected both. Sera had recorded that correction rather than hiding it. The final coalition assessment differed from both sets of measurements in ways she wanted Nadir Keene to explain.
Nadir arrived carrying a hard equipment case. He spotted her through the window, waved once, and came inside. His hair had more gray at the temples than she remembered. The case was new; the scratches on its handle were not.
