[ Thank you gets a quirk at the corner of her mouth, not for speaking and not for smiling, but not quite nothing, either. ]

More than I know how to explain, I think. How did it happen? Why? What made Khaji Da think it was the Negotiator, after that long? I mean, if he was jumping to conclusions, based on other things, he wouldn't have waited a month to do something about it, right? Even yours doesn't strike me as the patient type.

[ She looks down, once more, at her bare hands. She wonders if they really are trembling, or if it's only a trick of her watery vision. ]

I'd want to tell you if you could believe what the Negotiator told you. ... Whether that history has a chance of repeating.