For someone she had earmarked as earnest more than anything, she was warmed by his easy laugh. They had talked quite in earnest, most times before – he was certainly comfortable in serious conversation as much as wry remarks – so this seemed an oddly aimless, leisurely turn. But she accompanied him up the stairs, rather relaxed around him now, herself. “A shrewd supposition,” she admitted, with the flash of a smile, because her grandmother absolutely had enlisted her – indeed, her grandmother would never let her be idle too long.
“And of course I am quite happy to, though I think my help is scarcely needed – everything would go just as smoothly without me,” Callista continued conspiratorially. (She did not know Jena Echelon-Arnost terribly well, but from a distance – and from this weekend – she could imagine her just as domineering and competent as her grandmother was.)
Callista glanced questioningly at the doors beyond the stairs when they had reached them, looking for the library. (Perhaps he had a book on Berlin she might borrow?)
“And of course I am quite happy to, though I think my help is scarcely needed – everything would go just as smoothly without me,” Callista continued conspiratorially. (She did not know Jena Echelon-Arnost terribly well, but from a distance – and from this weekend – she could imagine her just as domineering and competent as her grandmother was.)
Callista glanced questioningly at the doors beyond the stairs when they had reached them, looking for the library. (Perhaps he had a book on Berlin she might borrow?)
