I-214-Oliver: Captree Main Orbital, Concourse Café

She gives a brief quirk of her lips in amusement and smiles with her eyes.

“But seriously, you were a bit of a surprise, but not an unwelcome one and something I embraced.  Your father was very excited; he would have given you many brothers and sisters if he could have, I think, but… for me, duty calls.”

She looks sombre for a moment, turns her head and looks beyond the walls while speaking.

“I have a sad suspicion this may be all the time we will have for now, but it seems to me that the boy I raised is someone who has grown into a competent and serious a man as I could have hoped to meet.  The brevity of this shared time is as much a marker for that as it is regrettable.”