"I don't doubt it," Adia agrees, more seriously than Viatorus likely intended. After having spoken with the woman, she doesn't take a statement like that as hyperbole. "Did she tell you that we met? It was nice talking to her. She obviously cares about you very much."

She laughs again. "I don't know how much good my 'guards' would have done against four curious dogs." She's assuming dogs, anyway. There's no King Charles where she's from, no cute little breed named after them. "Did you get it to work eventually? Were you able to finally read in peace?"

Adia follows him into his office and takes a look around -- specifically where she can set down her glass without worrying about leaving a ring on his desk -- but the strange chair catches her eye. She's seen something like that before, in a furniture store specializing in ergonomics, maybe. "Is that where you do your dreamwalking?" she asks, pointing to it with her notebook.