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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 2 of 2))
As a member of the Riverton Hall staff guided them toward the President's office, it gradually became clear to Hector that this was going to be an even bigger occasion than he'd expected. There were more people around than ever, and he occasionally caught glimpses of camera crews through windows or among the crowd.

He'd known that this was going to be televised, of course, but that did little to settle his discomfort now, especially without his armor. He so badly wanted to materialize it again and hide behind it, but there was really no good justification for that.

Or at least, that was what Garovel kept telling him. Maybe the reaper didn't know what he was talking about, though. It's not like Garovel was always right about everything, right?

Agh. He just had to focus. He'd done this sort of thing before. He was more experienced now. He could handle it. Probably.

The President's office was actually quite huge, but it didn't feel that way with all these people crammed into it. Hector immediately spotted Ravi Zaman and Carl Rondel among the onlookers, as their accompanying reapers made them rather easy to notice. Aside from them, he also recognized the faces of Secretary Karr, Ambassador Stoutamire, and several other officials that he had met briefly over the course of his stay here.

Which included the President himself, actually. Allen Dance was a tall man with a black-and-gray beard. His expression had a natural severity to it, not entirely unlike several Rainlords whom Hector could think of.

"On behalf of the Free Nation of Lorent, allow me to thank you for all that you have done for this country, Lord Hector Goffe of Atreya." And the President offered him a handshake.

Hector took it, of course, but it hardly felt like a normal handshake with all this pomp and circumstance going on around them.