"Information is just data until you know what to do with it. Then it becomes a weapon."
***
Penny's face crumpled with gratitude at being noticed. At being asked. Her lower lip trembled, and for a moment it seemed she might cry from the simple relief of human acknowledgment.
"It's just... there's so much, you see, and I'm always so afraid I'll mix something up and get in trouble for it. Yesterday I almost put Master Thorne's silk shirt in with the work clothes." Her voice cracked. "Can you imagine? He would have had my head if I'd ruined it."
She glanced around nervously as though half-expecting the noble to materialize from the steam.
"That would have been most unfortunate," Lyra agreed. She began to help sort through the pile of garments on the table. Her fingers moved automatically, separating colors from whites, delicates from rougher fabrics. Her mind catalogued each item and its owner. "Whose is this one?"
