Roma caught sight of them, his smile carrying the kind of warmth that preceded frostbite as he smoothly switched back to their native tongue. “Good morning, counselors. I trust you’re prepared to address the cross-border enforcement protocols?” His eyes gave him away… he was enjoying this far too much… as he strung together impressive-sounding legal terms that were about as meaningful as reading a dictionary backwards… another act in a colosseum he’d built himself, performed for an audience that didn’t know they’d bought tickets to a game where he alone kept score. Juniper’s jaw tightened. Somewhere in her chest, a melody she didn’t sanction started to hum.

Daniel leaned forward from his usual spot at the far end of the table, his suit jacket pulling slightly across his shoulders. “You okay?”

Juniper’s head popped up, her ponytail swinging with the sudden movement. “Yeah, why?”

“You’re whistling.”

“Oh.” Her fingers paused mid-page turn, genuine confusion crossing her features. “Yeah, I do that when I’m driving…”

Sophia’s pen froze above her notebook, her head tilting as she exchanged a knowing look with Daniel. The sound of shuffling papers seemed to grow louder in the quiet courtroom.

“And when I’m stressed,” Juniper added with an impossibly bright smile, her dimple appearing as she straightened papers that were already perfectly aligned. She turned back to her work with exaggerated focus, the soft melody still unconsciously escaping between her lips like a bird that didn’t know it was supposed to be caged.

The courthouse’s vaulted ceiling seemed to press down on the gallery as Roma rose from his seat, his towering frame casting long shadows across polished marble. The morning sun caught in the copper fixtures above, their warm glow at odds with the temperature drop as he spoke: