The king was not the only one sitting at the table. The faces of the others were veiled in shadow, however. Were this a real court, they would have had to be great lords and high vassals to sit at the king’s side. All the seated figures were as still as statues, but none of the courtiers in the hall seemed to notice. A system operations sign? Were the shadowed constructs placeholders for other members of the cabal who were not presently active in the system?