Seraphina gave me a chair at the end of the table and told me which questions weren't mine.
"Maelis handles clinical decisions. The attendant explains admission. You explain the resource figures if they ask."
"An unusually narrow opportunity to embarrass myself."
"Try to keep it narrow."
She had ink on the side of her hand. The proposal in front of her looked as though several people had won arguments against it.
I preferred that to the clean copies sponsors brought me.
She placed the resource sheet in front of my chair and kept the main proposal beside her own. I read the marked line about reduced treatment hours before the hearing began. The cost hadn't disappeared from the final copy merely because nobody liked it.
"If they ask whether this is medically better, I refer them to Maelis," I said.
"Yes."
"Even if they ask me twice."
Seraphina looked at me. "Especially then."
