"Has something serious happened?"
Trafalgar heard the word homunculus and felt the muscles across his shoulders pull tight, because in his experience a report on a thing like that rarely came bearing good news.
"No, no. Nothing of the sort, you can put that away." Barth waved both hands, quick to head him off. "Everything's fine. I only wanted to bring you up to speed on where it all stands, since keeping an eye on her is half the reason I'm at the Academy in the first place." He took a sip of tea, steadier now that he was on solid ground. "She's under control. Truly. If you passed her in a corridor you'd take her for any other girl in the place. Nothing about her draws a second look."
"And Selara?"
