Dear shrugged, unsmiling. "Her choice is her own. I would have preferred that she be here, but then, I would have preferred everyone be as invested in this as I am, and we know that not to be the case."
There were a few tag-alongs aside from Ioan, as well. Folks immediately identified as out-clade. A few friends. A few partners, singular and plural. Some who ey suspected were like emself: historians and helpers, here to witness and reecord. The 'catalogers, feelers, and experiencers' Dear had mentioned. One of the conservatives (at Ioan's guess, at least) had even brought a reputation analyst along with him, a slight Asian gentleman who introduced himself as Qián Guōwēi.
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It was an interesting move, bringing along someone whose job was that of market analysis to perhaps the strangest family reunion in history. This GUOWEI did not speak much to anyone at all, and few spoke to him in return. It seemed to be some unspoken agreement that the reputation expert remain aloof, somehow above those whose reputations were at stake.
+
It was an interesting move, bringing along someone whose job was that of market analysis to perhaps the strangest family reunion in history. This Guōwēi did not speak much to anyone at all, and few spoke to him in return. It seemed to be some unspoken agreement that the reputation expert remain aloof, somehow above those whose reputations were at stake.
And then it was time. Dear announced that the party would be leaving in five minutes.