Looking at both of them.
Then at Vikram.
Who was watching the scene with the specific, warmly competitive expression of a man who has been inspired.
"'I can do that,'" he said.
"'Vikram—'"
"'Genuinely. I have a notes app. I can plan something—'"
"'This is not a competition—'"
"'It's a little bit a competition,'" he said.
Introductions.
He did them the way he did everything — with the specific, direct attention of someone who was seeing each person for the first time and had chosen to fully see them. Vikram, he shook hands with in the specific, solid way that men recognized as a peer-signal rather than a status signal. Meera, he gave the specific, warm attention of someone who had been told about a person and was comparing the person to the information.
"'Raven,'" she said his name, trying it out. "'That's—'"
"'Unusual,'" he said. "'Yes.'"
"'I was going to say nice,'" she said.
He looked at her.
