The family sent their answer through the intermediary after the elder had left. They would permit an attempt. They wanted everything documented, including failure, uncertainty, and any difference between the team members’ accounts.
The older woman came with the answer. She stood in the guest workroom holding no cherished object this time. The younger man remained behind to prepare for the journey to the junction.
“I haven’t changed my mind,” she told Tessa.
Tessa put down the tool roll. “Then we need to speak about what the answer means.”
“We did speak. All night, some of it. He believes she would want the chance. I believe we might destroy what remains. We agreed he may authorize the attempt as the family’s representative. Don’t write that we agreed about the attempt.”
The envoy asked whether the elder had pressured her. The woman shook her head impatiently. The elder had explained the naming convention, confirmed the strength and limits of the likely match, and refused to tell them what love required. That refusal seemed to have annoyed both relatives equally.
“I am not asking you to make him lose the choice because I can’t join it,” the woman said. “I am asking you not to take my opposition away from me.”
