Sophie walked the upper corridor with Seraleth beside her, and for the first time in days the air around her didn't feel like something she had to push through. Her steps had weight to them again, purpose instead of just motion.
"Hold the southern dock contracts until I get back," she said to a passing junior member, who straightened immediately.
"Yes ma'am," he said, then added, grinning, "looking good today, by the way."
"Flattery noted," Sophie said, not unkindly, and kept walking.
Seraleth glanced at her sideways. "He has a crush on you."
"Half the faction has a crush on one of us," Sophie said. "It happens when you're dating the SSS ranked boy with the dragons. I'm basically a celebrity by association."
"You were always a celebrity in your own right," Seraleth said. "Don't undersell yourself just because today is a better day."
Sophie smiled at that, small but real, and they reached the briefing room together.
