This week in the saga

When the assembly votes to strip away his emergency, he answers with the first great veto of his reign in defense of the Wall. He pauses the war for grief, sending the nation's sympathy to a far country struck by a massacre at prayer, and bats down the talk of impeachment, insisting he did nothing wrong while the country soars. He roars the old chant to the faithful — and far away, unseen, the prosecutor sets down his pen and the report is finished at last.