The telephone is miraculously left in one piece, set back onto the receiver the way she found it. The magic message box might take some time to get used to though.

“Mm, we’ve met,” a flick of her gaze back up to him. “Back at the Boarding House.” She’s rather pleased that she left an impression, really. Less so by whatever he actually means when he calls it fortitude, but it doesn’t show on her face.

Honestly, she liked Ellie. Liked her honesty, and her mettle. It had been obvious that the girl had been shaped by a cruel enough world, and that parallel ran familiar enough to leave a memory of its own. “You’re concerned for her.” She’s lucky, in that.

“There is strategy in numbers,” she concedes, as she considers him again, still too much like a puzzle she can’t quite figure out. “I’ll see what arrangements I can make.” It feels easier to consider this as fair trade for the help he has provided, whether or not she is able to admit to needing it.

Tissaia was right. Her precious fucking ego always did get in the way.