The woman finishes her lecture.

"I assume you have someone around who would object if I whisked you off to be apprentices without warning."

"Our mom is sick and they won't let us see her."

"Do you know what the problem is?"

"No. She coughs a lot, though."

"I have some training in biomedical sciences. I can at least see if I can be let in to speak to her."

"...Thanks. I'm El, and this is Mary."

"I am Akira Curtis." She straightens, looking around. "That appears to be the last of the weak points. Your town should be safe for a while."

"I don't think it's ever rained this much."

"Good. Then those should hold for decades yet. Still, I'll let the mayor and anyone else interested know how to maintain them, and how to identify problems before the dikes fail again."

"That's very thorough."

"It behooves any scientist, alchemist, and student of natural law to be as thorough as circumstances permit."

El nods, seriously.

"El-El's really good at being thorough," Mary says. "I'm the creative one."

"A good combination."

El smacks her sister on the shoulder.

She laughs and sticks her tongue out at El.

El tries and fails to keep a straight face.

"Awwwww, don't be mad El-El, you're still my favorite sister."

"Yeah, well, you're still in last place."

She laughs. "So good I beat myself!"

"Whatever makes you feel better about it."

"I feel quite great, actually!"

"You usually do."

"It'd be horrible if anyone thought I was shy and unsure of myself."

"I'm pretty sure no one who's around you for more than thirty seconds at a time could possibly think that."