It was hard to be strong like that. Hard to even remember what being strong was like when one had spent a week in a cell. The calm that he'd felt earlier had been defeated by Asabel, and now he knew only fatigue, and only change. His world seemed to be a whirlwind of events lately. Whenever he sought to keep abreast of one thing, another thing turned up. Such was both the blessing and the curse of the Patrick title. He smiled at that. There seemed to be parallels no matter where he looked.
Regardless, these changes weren't exactly for the worse. Or at least, they wouldn't be, if he managed to keep his head. It would be an awful ending to things if he only lost the vote now. Oliver judged how nervous he should be by gauging Hod's nervousness. The Minister didn't exactly seem calm. He seemed to be deep in thought, considering something. Nor was he exactly erratic though. From that, Oliver supposed that he was walking a very thin line.
