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They exited the aboveground building together, and Ms. Rogers appeared with a couple of Rainlords behind her. She didn’t say anything, but Hector could infer that she meant to take the man off Hector’s hands for him.

Hector decided against that, however. He walked with Fred back to the man’s four-door sedan and watched the man drive away, though not before making sure that the guy had a means of getting in touch with him again. Rather than keeping Ms. Rogers as their go-between, Hector gave Fred his personal number.

He returned underground with Ms. Rogers and the Rainlords.

She was noticeably quiet, Hector felt. Usually, she wouldn’t hesitate to use these walking periods to remind him of one thing or another, so the fact that she wasn’t doing that now made him wonder what was going through her mind.

Truthfully, he was still a bit displeased with her, but he also didn’t want to let one mistake override all the great work that she had done for him, either. That wouldn’t be fair to her.

And things seemed to have worked out with Fred, anyway, so there was really no point in staying upset.

But before he let her off the hook, there was one thing he needed to double-check.

He asked the Rainlords to give them some privacy. One of them, Matteo Delaguna, was slower to acquiesce than the other, but not by much.

“Ms. Rogers,” he said once they were alone in a side room near the top of the Entry Tower. “Do you understand why I got upset with you about Fred?”

She was a bit slow to answer. “Because you felt that I had disrespected him. And by extension, since I was representing you, I made it appear as if you had disrespected him.”

“Okay, but do you understand why I thought it was disrespectful?”

“...Because you wanted to express your contrition to the man. If you had gone to him, it would have made for a clearer indication of your sincerity, as you would effectively be saying that his time and convenience were more important than your own.”

Huh. Well, that was pretty much spot on. As he should’ve expected, considering how sharp he knew Ms. Rogers to be.

But that also confused him a little. “That’s exactly right,” he said. “So... why did you have him come here?”

She paused again. “It was a mistake, lord. I can only apologize.”