Noah got back to Earth a little after noon.
He didn't go straight to his room. He went to the hangar first and stood next to Storm for a while with his hand on the wyvern's side, not saying anything. Storm turned his big head and blew cold air across the back of Noah's neck until he laughed and pushed him away.
Then Sam found him, and then there were the Kessler's Reach reports, and then a supply argument between the kitchen and the annex that somehow needed the head of the faction to settle it. Noah ended up standing between a cook and an earth-ability recruit while they yelled at each other about whether you were allowed to raise the floor of the mess hall to keep your soup from sliding.
"You're not allowed to raise the floor," Noah said.
"Sir, the table wobbles."
"Then fix the table."
"I did fix the table. I fixed it with the floor."
"Don't fix tables with the floor."
