Talia accepted the regional commission on Thursday. Four months of travel, six municipalities, a team of interpreters whose names would appear on every final document. She called Marta before she called Edvard. Marta celebrated by listing all the foods her daughter should eat on trains.
The offer had followed a morning interview that began badly. One panel member asked whether her public association with Edvard might compromise her independence. Talia gave the dates: the port correction filed before the summit contract closed, her bid submitted after, no palace reference, no contact between Edvard and the panel. Then she asked if they had read the sample translation attached to the bid.
They had. A different panel member wanted to know why she had kept the patient as the grammatical subject in a clinic-access form when the old version placed the hospital there. Talia showed the two versions. For twenty minutes they…
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