"Won't we have to eat once we get there? Have you seen the stuff the dockyard cafeteria makes? The engineers wrote last time that they eat salted dried fish mixed with hard flatbread every day."
Elena took a deep breath. "Cut it down to one pot, one knife, and one portion of each seasoning. Buy everything else locally."
Saina opened her mouth to argue.
"We'll buy it locally." Elena repeated herself, her tone leaving no room for doubt.
Under the table, Su Li kicked Saina. She shot him a glare, then shut up.
At that moment, footsteps sounded beyond the courtyard gate. Talia pushed the door open and entered, carrying a stack of scrolls in her arms.
"I'm applying to go with you." Without even greeting anyone, she sat down in an empty chair. "The integration of a propeller with a fifth-tier ship core has never been done before. An opportunity to observe it like this may only come once in a lifetime."
Elena put a checkmark after "Talia" in the personnel column. "I already put you down."
The corner of Talia's mouth twitched, which counted as satisfaction.
Another silver head poked in through the doorway. Violet clung to the doorframe, looking utterly pitiful. "Sis, I want to go too..."
"No." Talia did not even turn her head. "Stay in the archives and organize the thirty-seven papers I marked."
"Thirty-seven?!"
"Have them ready by the time I'm back."
Violet's face fell. Releasing the doorframe, she trudged away with heavy steps. When she passed the kitchen, she turned inside. A moment later, she came back out carrying a bowl of rice, shoveling it into her mouth as she walked.
Elena glanced back at her, then turned to Talia. "Your sister's already had two bowls."
"Let her eat." Talia opened a scroll