What did he mean, his brother's event? She'd never heard that he had a dead brother before. In light of recent events, having a ghost sibling seemed like very relevant information that he might have mentioned earlier. Not that there had been much time to talk about it on the night it had happened (and not as though Henrietta had even realized the relevance of ghosts right away, since her mother's spirit had taken some time to make her presence known to the world), but he might have mentioned it afterwards when she'd written him. She wondered if she ought to express some sort of condolences for his brother, but decided against it. She didn't particularly appreciate people expressing condolences for her mother to her, because it made no sense when her mother wasn't even actually gone. Presumably she might have felt differently if circumstances had been different — if she had liked her mother or if she had not actively participated in the moments of her death. In any case, she decided not to offer condolences.

"It's my mother's first event since — you know," she explained rather miserably. "So we're all meant to be here to support her, mourning or not. I haven't actually seen her yet."

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