'The eastern operations are with Lilian. She is better at this than I gave her credit for in the first month. She doesn't need me there.'
'I'll be in the capital in three days.'
'Two if the road is clear.'
'Mahir.'
'PS — the system will have read this before you did. Tell it I said whatever it says to systems.'
---
Elara read it.
Read it again.
Sat with it for a moment.
The system on her shoulder said nothing.
She looked at the PS.
Despite everything — despite every quality she had about her that didn't work the way other people's worked, despite a lifetime and a half of navigating the world through analysis rather than feeling, despite the specific way she processed things that wasn't the standard model — she found something happening at the edges of her expression that was not fully professional.
"He says whatever you say to systems," she told the system.
The system made the sound.
"Don't," she said.
"I didn't say anything," the system said.
"You made a sound."
