The old professor looked as if he knew all along that the younger female expert would speak up.
The experts and scholars present all seemed quite interested in the matter, and their gazes toward Yara Quillan held a new, inscrutable quality.
Yara Quillan, however, didn't pay it much mind. After she and the old professor left the seminar and returned to the university, the professor, who had been silent the whole way, suddenly spoke just as Yara was about to bid him farewell. "Yara, at my age, I should have retired long ago. I suppose I can only mentor you for a few more months. I've paved the road for you this far. The rest of the journey is up to you."
"Professor?"
"I'm old. My child, press on. Don't live your life with any regrets."
