(Petra Halvern POV)
Elizabeth Aurelius had been gone for eight days, and people still looked at her chair whenever a question took too long to answer. I found this irritating. Not because the chair was empty, but because chairs are not known for answering questions.
"Petra."
Adrian was standing beside my desk with two sheets of paper. "Training allocation."
I held out my hand, and he gave me the first sheet. Concord had the eastern practice hall after lunch. Class Two had asked for the adjoining yard. An Academy assistant wanted to know whether we wanted the dividing barrier raised between them.
"Why are you giving this to me?"
"Because somebody has to answer it."
"You could."
"I could."
"Then do that."
