Mina and Jakin squeeze through the bookshelves and creep to the front of the gallery, peeking down to where Inric is standing with a strange woman. She does indeed have long ears, and her dark skin bears a dappled pattern. She looks friendly, but her words are completely alien to both children. "No. Arvid doesn't have the training for this. I can either do the walking or the research, but not both. Unless you can spare the time to destroy a second batch of warships?" Even from her lofty vantage point, Mina can tell Inric is annoyed. The woman laughs. "Don't worry! I was planning to ask Ylva. Why don't we go straight there?" "I didn't understand any of that," Jakin says grumpily as the two adults walk out of the library, carrying on their discussion in that strange, fluting language. Mina grins at him. "I did try to tell you."