“It’s not… it’s not the chaos. You said you wanted to come with me so Lestat knows that what he did to me wasn’t okay. Which means you talked to him right after it happened and you didn’t say that. You don’t have to put on a show for me, you know.”

He looks down into his tea.

“I’m tired of trying and not making a difference, that’s all,” he says softly. “I prepared for that meeting. I kept focused on the important issues. Nobody noticed that. Before that, I tried to get everyone to give counselling a shot. People here have a lot of issues; it could do a lot of good. We know how that worked out. When Reid calls, I’ll go talk to Lestat, but he doesn’t want to do it and we know how me plus counselling goes. So. I’m not sanguine, as it were. So shelving books. It’s sensible and they don’t have to like me for it to go well.”