Harley paused to take a sip of water. She’d just eviscerated the latest legal theory the silver-haired man in an expensive-looking suit, and who looked like the lead lawyer of the team, had put forward. “Before I make one last point about this …” she started to say.

Surprisingly, she turned to Rian and said in quick change of tone, “Sorry, I’ve been hogging the water here. It may be winter but you still need to keep hydrated here in LA.” Then to everyone’s surprise, she calmly lifted the pitcher in front of her, and started to pour water into Rian’s glass. Her hand remained still, and didn’t shake one bit, as she poured the water. She set the pitcher down, and winked at Rian before turning to face the phalanx of lawyers again.

There was a buzz that hopped from one lawyer to the next after that. Damn she is ice-cold, slick, and smooth beyond her years, Rian thought. If ever I’m going to need a lawyer myself in the future, I’m grabbing her.

Rian took Harley’s lead and reached out to lift a thin slice of lemon from the tiny bowl of lemons that had been set out in front of them, and then coolly dropped it into her glass. She hoped her hand stayed as steady as Harley’s did earlier. She drank the water and relaxed in her chair. She fixed a stare at the expert from Egypt while Harley proceeded to comprehensively dismantle the foundations of the other side’s legal argument. Even to a non-legal expert, it was clear that she was determined to leave them without a leg to stand on.

Earlier, while the lawyers were going back and forth, and the expert from Egypt was busily checking his tablet and going through the papers he’d brought, Rian had wondered whether there was something she’d needed to do herself, to earn her fee. I’m the only one not doing anything here. Is there something that I could have missed while preparing for this thing?

But as she drank, Rian mentally calmed herself down. Take a page out of Harley’s playbook, Rian. She’s confident in her abilities, and is not consulting any of her notes. Her tablet’s sitting at her elbow but it’s been dark since she hasn’t touched it since the meeting started. And yet she’s ticking off all the major points that she’d discussed with Philip this morning. She’s repelled every attack, and has effectively advanced her own position. A much more successful defensive effort than Leonidas’ when he battled Xerxes.