Chapter 34: The Envelope and the Light
The surface of my desk shimmered quietly as the afternoon light angled through the glass walls. I sat still in the chair - though it still didn’t feel like mine - staring at the folder in front of me.
Executive briefing. Quarterly review. Board expectations. Performance index of sectors I didn’t even know existed.
Cassian stood nearby, speaking calmly as he flipped through summaries. His voice was low and precise, a perfect blend of reassuring and authoritative, like an AI that has become sentient and was now superior to human, yet remained loyal and obedient.
"Here, you’ll want to open with a short statement of appreciation to the board. After that, let people report to you. If you are unsure about anything, you can ask questions."
He then continued, telling me what I should expect - and what people would expect me to do in the upcoming series of meetings. He gave me background information. Current status. Anything that would help me look less clueless once I really start attending these things and sit at the head of the table.
I nodded, trying to take notes, though I was never sure how much of it was actually entering my brain. What I could understand were easily forgotten. What I couldn’t understand were written down, only for me to later look back and ask ’why did I write that?’
"Are you following so far?" he asked gently.
I looked up. "Kind of..."
To his credit, Cassian didn’t sigh or frown.
"Would it help if I broke the categories into metaphors? Luc mentioned you might like to visualize things more narratively."
Luc.