"Faster, perhaps, but you'd lose an element of control over your time and your processes," Solomon warned. "Real apprenticeship isn't for everyone." Someone like Pepper might be too strong-willed and independent to find it helpful; apprenticeships in Keeliai were more akin to the sort a couple of centuries before Peppers' time than a modern definition.

"That depends on your definition of interesting," Solomon said cheerfully. "I like to think I'm the most interesting of the lot, myself. But yes, I do meet a range of people. Most investigators do, even if it's just to prod a random witness."