Only half a second or so of silence between them gave any hint that Meesei and Lunise had been talking any longer than the recent moment. Lunise picked up the act quickly. "Indeed. The professor will see you now. I hope your wait was not unbearable." She stepped aside to gesture along the path she came.

Given Meesei's slow wandering, the trip back was far faster. Meesei did not have to wait outside the study for longer than a moment before being invited in.

"Ah, there you are," Pircalmo glanced up from the steaming tea he was pouring into three cups. He straightened with the teapot in his hands and gave a welcome and far more calm and collected smile than their prior arrival. "I am so terribly sorry to have made you wait, Meesei. Please, make yourself at home."

Lunise set herself down on one of the seats around the small round table holding the tea set. She gave Meesei a polite, if detached, smile and took up one of the tea cups by the handle.

The room saw a few differences. Meesei noticed that a few loose parchments and books had been cleaned up and a round hat box had appeared atop Pircalmo's writing desk, fuzzy with dust on its top. The less stark but equally impactful difference to her expectations was just how little Pircalmo expressed any trace of the grief Lunise had described. The whole scene was as if the letter only left a small impression, disguised as it all was.

Pircalmo took a seat for himself, but did not reach for his tea yet, likely as it was still burning hot. "Now, how long must it have been since the last time you were in the city here?" He asked. "I sometimes get so absorbed in my work that I lose perspective."