He chuckled at the idea of finding a way around the paperwork. “Sadly, unless the rest of my staff is indisposed like they are today, I’m needed back at the office.” But there was one very large thing keeping him from doing what she said beyond his staff, his lame leg. Percy simply couldn’t do the same things he had once been able to. “Besides, I’d doubt if they’d like it if I gave them paperwork and was paying them to be in the field.” He shrugged, thinking of himself when he had just been another employee of the division.

Miss Jennings paused for the first time in the conversation long enough that Percy looked from those around them to her. There was a faint pink to her cheeks that instantly had Percy wondering what he had said. He had thought such a question was innocuous enough, but now he was definitely regretting it.


Her answer though, hardly seemed a thing to be embarrassed by. “That seems rather admirable.” Percy started, feeling awkward and wondering how to set them back on the course of their previous pleasant conversation. That definitely didn’t include inquiring just how she felt she could blame herself for two siblings not getting along. “Has it worked?” He asked, hoping this too was not prying or would not make her uncomfortable. But he had absolutely no idea how to steer them away from the subject they were fixed on.