“I escorted her home yesterday.”

“Why?”

Kaylin hesitated. Before Teela could lean in, she said, “Mrs. Erickson was worried about Severn.”

Teela blinked. “Do go on. Was one of her ghosts concerned?”

“Two of her ghosts.”

“And because he’s your partner you decided to check it out?”

Technically, this was accurate, and Teela might forgive her because the Barrani lived in the margins of technicalities—it was why all the laws and most of the lawyers were steeped in Barrani minutiae, although the lawyers themselves were, by and large, human. Teela, however, was less patient when others attempted to rely on technicalities where Teela was concerned.

“Yes. But it wasn’t just that. Tell me, what do you see when you look at Severn’s weapon chain?”

“An unusual belt.”

“So...it doesn’t glow when you look at it?”

Teela stilled in a way that indicated Kaylin now had what she didn’t really want: all of her attention. “No. I assume you aren’t referring to enhanced magical investigation.”

“I’m not. To me—and you know I’m sensitive to magical signatures—it looks like a belt made of chain.”

“And Mrs. Erickson’s ghosts see it differently.”

Kaylin shook her head. “It’s not her ghosts—well, maybe her ghosts do as well—it’s Mrs. Erickson. She knew who Severn was because she vaguely knows who I am, and he’s my partner. Him and his painfully illuminated belt.”

“Painfully?”

“She has to squint sometimes when he’s too close.”

Teela’s eyes were blue, but they usually were; she was concerned, but not worried. Not yet. “And that led you to investigate Mrs. Erickson’s house?”

“Oh—no, that came later.”

“And that’s why you volunteered for front desk duty today?”

“Pretty much. I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask Mrs. Erickson. I think we should have her tested for magical aptitude, but I wanted to know if she’d been tested before.”

“Judging from your sour expression, she had.”

“Yes, but probably by an idiot. I’m sure the Imperial College will have some record of it. I think she should be tested again, regardless.”

Because Teela wasn’t mortal, she didn’t say, At her age? “Did you want to tell me the rest?”

Not particularly, but Kaylin knew this offer of a listening ear wasn’t actually an offer.

Teela was clearly bored enough that everything Kaylin told her—and she kept nothing back—was of interest. To Teela, Amaldi and Darreno were the most pressing concern because they recognized the weapon itself, and Kaylin couldn’t actually see them without her familiar’s wing. They had clearly had some experience with Barrani in the past—and that past was distant enough Teela might have been a child when it had happened.