Sevs sat in a small chair in the corner of Father’s office. It was across the large desk, centered in the back of the room opposite the door. The placement was just such that Father could keep an eye on him, but he wasn’t in the way. He had a pen and pad balanced on his knees and was scribbling away, quietly in the corner.

There were two other people in the room as well. Taking up the smaller chairs directly in front of the desk. Occasionally the man on the right would take a quick look over his shoulder at Sevs on his chair, but as soon as Sevs went to meet his eyes, his gaze would whip back to the front. The woman sitting in the other chair was more composed and mostly ignored Sevs. Barely even acknowledging his presence when she had entered about 15 minutes ago.

“Janice, I don’t think there is much more I need for you to do right now. Sanjay, I am going to need you to step up the production by at least 10%. Look, I know, but this has to happen. Get it done. If you really can’t figure it out, come talk to me, and we will think of something.” Father finished speaking and leaned back and studied the pair. He shook their hands as they got up and left.

Janice hung back a second as Sanjay walked out. As the door shut behind him, she said in a soft tone. “I just wanted to say I am really sorry for your loss sir.”

Father gave her a tight smile. “Thank you, that means a lot Janice, but I believe we have work to do.”

She reached for the door handle and left.

With a big sigh, Father seemed to deflate as he slouched in his chair. He ran his left hand through his hair and down his face before sitting back up and squaring his shoulders. He turned his head to look right at Sevs for the first time since his meeting had started. As he tilted his head slightly, considering what to say, he smoothed his tie.

“How are you holding up Sevs? It's been a few hours.”

Sevs looked up from his notepad and met Father’s gaze. “Yes, that was quite an interesting meeting. Are all our meetings so adversarial?”

Father grimaced slightly. “Most are not nearly that bad. Janice is a really good employee but needs to work on her managerial skills. Sanjay… well he has a lot of experience, but that works against him sometimes.”

Father had an epiphany flash across his face. “Why don’t you tell me what you think happened. As much detail as you can, if you will. We can discuss your findings. How does that sound?”

Sevs’ curiosity peaked. He looked down at his notepad and thought about what he had just witnessed.

“Well, it sounded like there were some issues with a collaboration project between their two orgs. It appears that…” Sevs went on to describe the tensions and partnership between the two attendees. It pretty much boiled down to Janice fulfilling her end of the project, but Sanjay was coming up short. Some other nuances made it a bit more complicated. Although they were mainly smoke screens, the attendees had put up to make themselves appear more reasonable.

“I’m impressed, Sevs. You understood the gist of the meetings and even some of the undertones. I wouldn’t expect that from any of my new hires, let alone out of someone who isn’t old enough to have started school yet. Now tell me who bears the blame for this debacle.”

Sevs thought a bit before answering. “It seems that the majority of issues come from Sanjay. But the blame can also be put at Jancie's feet as she probably could have made the expectations clearer.”

Father smiled. “I’m glad you were able to see some nuance. However, you left out the largest culprit. The blame ultimately rests on me. While there is always something your subordinates can do better, it is my job to know their limitations and prepare them for the tasks they need to do.”

“What about your boss Father? Does he not hold the blame then?” Sevs was curious from his long experience that whoever was in the wrong held the blame.

“Not from my perspective. My boss could blame himself, but will not if this never becomes an issue he has to deal with. If I let this get to the point where it affects the bottom line. It would still be my fault. However, it would also be his for putting me in this position. The blame goes up, never down. There could be a directional shift in the company that goes to disaster, and that would be his fault. However, if the problem happens under you, it is your fault, not your team's fault. It may be that you were in the wrong for hiring them, and that might need to be fixed. But it is always your fault when you have authority.” Father reached up to stretch. “Maybe you're too young to understand. I hope when you have responsibilities and people you are responsible to, you remember…”

Father paused and stood up after checking the clock over the door. “Anyways it's about time for lunch. Let's see what the cafeteria is serving today.”

Sevs was looking forward to lunch, but he was still wrapped up in Father’s monologue. After countless years of diving, he had never had to be responsible for others. He had never really been interested in forming or maintaining relationships since most of his old friends had ascended eons ago. Maybe it was his new charisma score, or maybe this was opening a new world, but these ideas started to capture his attention. “Father, how can any man bear that much responsibility? That seems to be heavy enough to crush anyone.”

Father spoke as he put on his jacket, “There was a book I loved as a kid. Maybe you will too, in a bit. But there is a quote from it that applies to leadership rather well. ‘Duty is heavier than a mountain’. Part of being a man is learning how to keep going no matter what. Come on and grab your coat. It's raining, and we need to go across the campus.”

Sevs grabbed his coat from across the back of his chair and followed Father out to lunch. As he went to move out the door. He paused long enough that the door almost slammed into his face before he caught it. It would be another 3 years or so before he started gaining more than the passive EXP. But in the corner of his vision, a small +10 floated up for a second before going out of sight.