"Let's head inside and find seats then."

Inside are a few dozen people - about three quarters of them women, about two thirds of them clearly in their magical raiment. A few look downright intimidating, elaborate crowns and halos and so on. The chairs are spaced in rows around a central round table, with plenty of space in between them. Nobody takes particular notice of Anna-Seraphina, though two people say hi to Kent.

Regardless of the rest of the circumstances it's nice to be in an environment where her raiment isn't unusual or threatening. She doesn't start any conversations.

Most of these people are chatting to each other. A few of the younger (and less powerful) looking ones take meaningful glances at her before chatting more intently.

Soon Patricia walks in. "Welcome everyone to the weekly meeting of New York Chapter 4 of the Spirit Association. I'll start by reading off last week's minutes..." Last week they turned down a proposal to increase membership fees, discussed but reached no decision on a revision of the boundary between Chapter 4 and Chapter 6, heard a complaint from one Eliana Whiteberry, and went over the chapter's quarterly budget plan as an informational courtesy. "Any questions so far?"

The increase in chatting intensity is kind of worrying. Anna-Seraphina pays close attention but has no questions.

Kent pats her hand reassuringly, once.

"Today's business. We have a few short announcements, then we have slotted time for continuing the boundary-revision discussion, then open table time if anyone wishes to raise further business. The first announcement is a monster update. This past week, a significant monster threat was identified and dispatched. Pawprint identified the fiend in a rancher's pasture. It was a truck-sized burrowing monster. He, Gridlight, Caliburn, and Bouldera worked together and eventually destroyed it, though there was significant collateral damage to livestock and land in the area. We don't expect any significant legal consequences from this action, though the beast was not of a known type, so you all should be on the lookout for strange monsters over the next few months. If there's anything that indicates this wasn't a one-off, do call the hotline and let me know."

"Secondly, the Spirit Association's employment negotiations with the State of New York have officially completed. The terms of termination will not be altered in the state's favor and pay rates for government-sponsored positions for next year have increased about 3% across the board. And finally, we have a new member, Miss Anna-Seraphina Sawyer." There's a round of sharp muttering, things like 'that Sawyer?' Patricia frowns. "I would like to remind everyone of rule 4 in the Spirit Bearers' Code. 'I will be open and trustworthy when discussing my fellow Spirit Bearers. I will not invent or spread unkind rumors or bear false witness, but I shall state my grievances plainly and without bias'. And I would also like to remind everyone that rumor and false witness can include gossip about things which you have not personally seen."

...This doesn't seem to do much to quell the sudden glares, fascinated/suspicious peering, etc.

Oh no.

One of the young ones who noticed her earlier speaks up. "Do we really want a mur-"

"Quiet!" Patricia lets off a soft woomph and a burst of fire. "What did I just say? You know nothing of the situation, Frost Era. The Law has spoken with regards to her. Only actions taken as a Spirit Bearer and witnessed by you, personally, should be brought up here. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

Her two friends blurt out, "You're going to beat us into silence like this..."

Whoomph. The glares have mostly shifted target. "You have all three spoken out of turn and disrupted proceedings. I'll have to ask you to leave now. You will receive a copy of the meeting minutes."

"But..." Frost Era looks around at the angry faces now targeted at her. She swallows, nods.

As the three leave, the person to Anna-Seraphina's right mutters, "Disrespectful children. That's not how things are done in this room."

She only vaguely hears it. She is mostly just curled as much into a ball as her chair will allow with her hands over her ears having a panic attack.

Pawprint speaks to her softly. "Hey, you're okay, they left, it's okay..." And so on.

She slowly uncurls. "They weren't the only ones, though," she says when she's calmed down enough to talk. "They were just the only ones who said it loud enough to get kicked out."

"But they did get kicked out. That's the best we'll get for now, can't police people's opinions. Just how they express them. And I see just as many sympathetic looks-"

"Pawprint, Miss Sawyer, are- Is she in enough distress that you should leave to calm down, or shall we continue the meeting?"

Kent gives Patricia a bit of a look.

"Sorry. I'm--calm enough, now."

"Please don't be afraid to leave the room if you need to. We're all Spirit Bearers, Spirit Bearers are supposed to help each other. Right. Now that that bit of excitement is over, let's summarize the conclusions so far about chapter border reorganization..."

This is a surprisingly important issue to a lot of the more powerful-looking people here, and they debate it intensely. Pretty much everyone is distracted from her now, at least, and this will go on for a while. Kent speaks up arguing that geographical boundaries like rivers make sense on a basic, spiritual level.

She has no informed opinions yet but listens closely so she'll be able to develop them.

The two major sides seem to be those who want a smaller territory so this chapter is not spread so thin, and those who want to keep it the same size so as to get more government money. Though plenty of folks are undecided and it's overall a pretty calm, rational debate.

Calm and distracting from her, perfect.

And then it's time for open table, the chance to raise new issues. The first one to stand up says, "I propose that our newest member, Miss Sawyer, given the circumstances which are public record surrounding her, undergo five years of probationary membership rather than three."

"Such matters are usually determined by the chapter administration, but I will hear your argument."

"Thank you. It is simple - Spirit Bearers born in violence have, historically, been more prone to use violence later. I have extensive data to present, if I may?" She shows off her data and tables. They're... Pretty convincing.

"Miss Sawyer, my apologies for pushing this on you, would you or Pawprint like to make a counter-argument?"

"I hated it even while I was doing it and I would have done anything else to get away from them if I thought anything else were on the table, it was--not the kind of thing I'd expect to act as precedent for anything else unless someone else finds a way to spend eight years hitting me when bruises wouldn't be incriminating and pinching me when they would and telling me I'm worthless and screaming when they don't have the mental energy for cleverer barbs but I don't know how Spirit Bearers work, maybe the bare fact that it was violent makes me more prone to violence now, I don't know. Whenever someone reacts badly to what I did I can't help but hear 'I wish you were back there, I wish that were still happening to you,' and that's not fair, what I did was awful, but that doesn't make it stop. But I don't want to hurt anyone else, and if extending the probationary period will make that less likely to happen then you should."

"I firmly believe the unusually desperate circumstances make her an outlier among Spirit Bearers involved with violence. I know the four cases you presented - three of them were already violent criminals when they found a willing genie. Miss Sawyer is not. She is no more dangerous than any other victim of abuse, which is not very, and she deserves a respectful treatment."

"Thank you. Does anybody else have any point to raise on this matter?" A few chime in their support for the first lady, or agreeing with Kent's argument. One says, "For God's sake, leave the poor girl alone. It's not appropriate for us to decide her fate publicly like this." And this ends the discussion.

Patricia decides, "Tabanthak is correct. It is not appropriate for a member's probationary status to be decided by public debate. We will not preemptively extend the probationary membership at this time. If she commits any rule violations, of course, the usual penalties will apply."

She smiles weakly at that last comment and discreetly holds out a hand towards Kent.

He'll hold Anna-Seraphina's hand as the meeting continues. Now someone's going on about monster sighting statistics.

She pays careful attention.

There are a lot of monster sightings! Apparently monsters are a bigger problem than she previously thought. At least ten get exterminated daily by the Spirit Bearers of this chapter, in a section of semi-rural land about a tenth the size of the state of New York.

Gosh, that's kind of frightening. Maybe she should put more energy into being able to use her spear competently.

Soon enough the meeting is over.

"You want to stay and socialize? Maybe find someone to spar with, or spar with me? They have good practice rooms here."