Phin stood awkwardly for a moment, in case his mother was going to say anything else. He wasn't surprised when she didn't. Right. Well, he was here because he'd left a book in this room earlier, and well, he was here now, so he wasn't going to just leave.

Phin crossed the room and found his book where he'd left it on a side table and, in what might be a moment of contrariness, sat himself down in an armchair across from his mother and opened his book in his lap.

---