"Is this really okay?" Biscuit nervously twirled a finger around her blond hair, which had grown past her ears.
She glanced guiltily toward the kitchen. The sounds of spatulas stirring food and oil sizzling made her shift uneasily, trying to peek inside and see what was going on.
"Relax." Gelman sat on a sofa a short distance away, just as he'd advised, leafing through a copy of Journey to the New World: Eastern Volume Fragment.
"Granny Lin Nie volunteered to cook, and Menchi and Buhara are helping her. Shubika and four other doctors are here too, along with a huge supply of All-Curing Herb. What could possibly happen?"
Gelman thought Biscuit was worrying over nothing. Biscuit, meanwhile, thought Gelman was being far too indifferent, keeping well out of it.
"You have no idea how much the Hunter Association values Granny Lin Nie!" Biscuit retorted, her neck turning red. "Everyone's so afraid she might fall or get sick that they won't even let her get a single bump or bruise!"
But Gelman was the kind of person who liked to look past appearances and get to the heart of things. "That old woman seems perfectly healthy to me. You're overdoing it with two people helping her walk and four doctors in the group."
Biscuit heard Gelman call Granny Lin Nie "that old woman." And some time ago, she'd accidentally discovered that he'd labeled her "Little Grandma."
Old grudges and new slights piled up. Biscuit's eyes reddened as she enlarged herself and lunged at Gelman, trying to pin him in her strong arms.
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Gelman quickly got up, rolled up Journey to the New World: Eastern Volume Fragment, and started dodging Biscuit's pursuit around the hall.
"Don't run!" Biscuit cried in frustration.