Gene looks up when Pepper comes into the kitchen. If she thinks he hasn't noticed how she's kept to herself lately in the wake of losing so many people, she's got another thing coming. But maybe now isn't quite the time for it.

"Notes for the new government," he says, and taps the notebook. "I've been in the library, reading up on the history where I can find it. If we're going to build a structure, we need to know more kedanese history than we do now. Otherwise we may as well be building on sand."