Nyx's answer arrived without her.
I won't take this request.
One line. No reason beneath it. The student desk had delivered my question about the neighboring return counter and brought back exactly what she chose to send. I read it again, as if the second reading might reveal a more useful arrangement of the same words.
It didn't.
The counter's temporary handler would be available until the midday collection. After that, he would return to his regular station. Nyx might have known how to reach him later. She might also have known which parts of the new route were worth asking about.
I didn't know either.
I had written the request as paid work, with a narrow subject and no demand for a name outside it. I wanted those improvements to matter enough that she would take it.
They mattered in a different way. She could read the offer and decide it wasn't work she wanted. A fair price didn't oblige her to accept it any more than my first offer to Nessa had obliged Nessa.
