“So,” I said to Oak, “Rose tells us you're an Authority?”
“A grandiose title, little more,” he replied.
“But she said that you're empowered to make structural decisions.”
Oak shot Rose a stern glance when I asked that, so I pressed on. “What might they be, I wonder? Structural decisions?”
Oak looked at me directly, a look far older than anything I'd ever seen.
“I am optimistic,” he said, “that there will be no need for us to find out.” His tone was final, that would be the end of that conversation.
