Chapter 14
The Founders’ Seat stayed empty for six months.
Lorenzo attended council as my father, not as an office.
That irritated older captains.
Good.
They needed practice surviving ambiguity.
Thomas Vale asked me:
“When will you decide?”
“When it matters.”
“It matters now.”
“Why?”
“Tradition.”
I almost smiled.
“Then tradition can wait.”
He did not enjoy that.
Eventually the answer came from an unexpected place.
Mrs. Bennett.
She was serving coffee after a family meeting when Thomas asked again.
She set down the pot.
“Maybe the seat should stay empty.”
Everyone looked at her.
She froze.
Old reflex.
“Sorry.”
I stopped her.
“No.”
Then:
“Finish.”
Her eyes widened.
Lorenzo smiled.
She continued cautiously.
“If a chair creates this much trouble, maybe the trouble is the chair.”
Silence.
I looked around.
Half the room wanted to object because she was staff.
That alone made the point stronger.
Lorenzo spoke first.
“She’s right.”
Thomas stared.
My father continued.
“My father treated symbols like guardrails.”
A pause.
“We turned them into weapons.”
He looked at me.
“I withdraw any claim.”
That surprised me.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He smiled faintly.
“Because I would rather be Lucas’s grandfather than your family’s furniture.”
I laughed.
The room did not know if that was allowed.
They learned.
The Founders’ Seat was retired.
Not destroyed.
The physical chair remained in the council room.
Anyone could sit in it during ordinary meetings.
That mattered.
The first person to do so was Mrs. Bennett when her knee hurt.
Thomas nearly had a spiritual crisis.
Excellent.
Symbols lose dangerous power when ordinary people use them normally.
Lorenzo watched her sit.
May you like
Smiled.
Maybe that was the first family reform he participated in without disappearing afterward.
