She did. [A simple confirmation, dry and featureless.] She is very confident of her own abilities.

[Nothing in the assessment or the pulse of the link between them feels decided on the matter. There's good to be had from a keen mind, as much as too much self assurance could doom a brood. Best to simply let the girl learn whether it was more beneficial to bash her head against a wall or not.]

In any case, we believe the matter of her people to be sufficiently satisfied for the time being. There will be trouble [of course there would be], but nothing unexpected.

[She fixates on him then - actually looks at him with a stripped down directness that feels singular: innumerable attentions pointed here, now, to him. Cathaway smiles. It has a coy edge.]

I hope being called a liar doesn't still bother you.