Selphira smiled…
"Victor." The same tone she used with students who kept making the same technical mistake three weeks after she'd corrected it. "We are not the same." A pause. "Besides, they suit me."
Which was also true, in a way she hadn't expected. The crystals caught on her cheekbone in a way that happened to cover the lines age had carved into that part of her face, a small and absurd side effect that she filed away without comment.
"Do you know why I'm not worried?" she said, keeping the same level of concentration she maintained while she spoke, the shield fed by the steady background of her attention. "I'm not that far gone yet. And when we get out of this and I've finished dealing with that idiot Orion, if I find myself in the right part of the city, I might be able to make this a new fashion statement. Crystals are actually quite striking if you look at them from the right angle. They cover a few age lines too."
Silence.
