As Anna watched Lorgar look helplessly toward the door, unable to explain himself, her brilliant grin at having pulled off her prank finally softened into a smile with genuine warmth.
She lightly vaulted off the desk, which was far too large for her, and landed without a sound.
"Boring. I'm done teasing you, Lorgar." She waved a hand, the feigned displeasure fading from her voice as it returned to her usual distinctive tone, somewhere between casual and familiar.
She snapped her fingers, the crisp sound echoing through the room.
As though receiving a silent command, the red lights in the eyes of the twenty "Holy Grail" combat robots standing like statues flashed in unison. Then, with astonishing precision and silence, they turned and filed out of the office, their footsteps heavy but exact.
The metallic footfalls receded, finally disappearing at the end of the corridor. The room felt spacious again, and that invisible, iron weight of oppression departed with them.
Anna walked over to Lorgar and looked up at his profile, where traces of embarrassment and contemplation still lingered. She clicked her tongue. "You're like an iron clunker. You're becoming more and more like your father."
Lorgar withdrew his gaze from the doorway, glanced down at her, and exhaled softly. The faint disturbance caused by Rockefeller's misunderstanding subsided.
"My emotional intelligence hasn't fallen quite that low, Anna," he countered, though his tone was level, as if merely stating a fact.
As he spoke, he rose to his full, towering height, deciding to put the office's peculiar atmosphere out of his mind for now. Perhaps a walk would help untangle his thoughts.
He pushed open the heavy door and stepped into the vast ship's perpetually bright corridors, where a faint hum echoed.
Almost the moment he stepped outside, two familiar figures