"I'll take a few hours," Solomon said, checking his pocket-watch and gathering up his essentials. "There are some errands for kedan I have to run--discovering potentially diseased relatives takes much longer when I have to do everything by hand."

He pulled on his coat and glanced back, and meant to say something but had no idea what; and so in the end he only inclined his head toward Raine and then turned and left the room.