Did some restructuring. About a hundred words shy of 14k now.

The stately but smallish hall of the University's buildings in the colony had been dark save for what light filtered through the dusty air from the tall windows running down the side wall. The windows looked as if they had never been cleaned, so the clear glass looked like parchment.
The room had been about half full, maybe a hundred souls in all, all of whom Urcea could see from her vantage near the back.
Somehow the heir to Aurumdale freight lines had also been at the University meeting amongst the various country officials, Suurin dignitaries, ambassadors, and researchers from the colonial university. And when it had been announced that, due to the strong evidence of the artifacts, there would be an expedition, the heir had quickly joined the group. He had in fact been planning his own trip out, although for what he wouldn't say.