Mary was looking daggers at Oak when she replied. “You go right
ahead, Mister Raven,” she said, “A bit more cleaning is neither
here nor there, as long as there's a house to clean when this is
over.” She paused for a moment, biting her lip with worry. “This
will be over, wont it?” she asked, “Sooner or later, I mean.”
“Sooner or later everything ends,” Raven told her, a sad smile in
his mouth, “Even this.”
“Good,” she said, a shiver running through her shoulders.
Raven took her hand gently in his, looking her straight in the eye.
“I have to be honest with you,” he said, flashing a glance at me,
“With you both. I do not know what will happen next. I only know
that consulting the Council is the right thing to do at this time. I
have no idea what conclusions they'll draw, or what decisions they'll
make.”
“So they might still agree with Oak?” I asked cautiously, “Make
these so-called structural changes.”
He nodded slowly. “They might.”
