Vikti and Viri both shrugged, but Erita had more to report. “Papa was reckless and impulsive,” he said.

Lovisa remembered what Hava had said about Benni’s shipping firm. “You heard that?”

“I heard Mother whisper-yelling at Papa that he was reckless and impulsive.”

“What does reckless and impulsive mean?” Viri asked, then instantly shrank, as if remembering what happened the last time he’d asked Lovisa what a word meant. “Never mind,” he said quickly.

Lovisa needed a moment to swallow the sadness that rose into her throat. “I hope you’ll always ask me what words mean, Viri,” she said. “Always. Reckless means careless, not careful. Like, it would be reckless to jump out of a high window, or fly the airship too far from shore, where the wind is too strong. Impulsive means doing something suddenly without thinking it through. Like, you might impulsively eat too many pastries because they looked good, then regret it when you threw up, not that I know anyone who would do anything like that.”

The boys thought this was the funniest joke they’d ever heard.

“Did Mother say why Papa was reckless and impulsive?” asked Lovisa.

“No, but now they’re in an impossible situation,” Erita said. “And Mother can’t trust Papa to fix it, because he’ll mess it up, so she’s going to fix it herself, which is something someone as important as the president of Winterkeep should not have to do.”

“Wow,” said Lovisa. “You have really good ears.”

“Erita is the best at snooping,” Viri said proudly.

“I was in the stairway between Mother’s study and Papa’s library,” Erita said, with solemn modesty. “I couldn’t help hearing it! I think Mother forgot she put me in there.”

“She put you in there?” said Lovisa, puzzled.

“She’s renovating the attic room,” said Erita.

“Oh, I see,” said Lovisa, trying to decipher this. “So she put you in the staircase instead, so you could”—she pitched her voice low to sound like Ferla’s—“‘think hard about what you’ve done’?”

“Yes,” said Erita, giggling in delight. “But I didn’t mind it at all. I just climbed down and sat at the door to Papa’s library, where it was warm and I could hear Papa working. But I pretended to be upset when she finally let me out, so she’d do it again.”

“I see,” said Lovisa. “It doesn’t seem like it would be very nice in there.”

“It’s dusty. But it’s way more interesting than the attic room. Are you staying overnight, Lovisa?”

Guilt stabbed her. “No. I have to go back to the dorm.”

“But why?”

“I have homework to do.”

“Couldn’t you do it here?”

“I didn’t bring it.”

“Could you go get it?”