Liss was already at the trough on Day 119 when Calen came out, and she stood beside him without saying anything. She had her arms folded. She had been up since the kitchen opened, and there was flour on her sleeves.
“The Mirror is gone,” she said at last.
“Yes.”
“Do I still copy, Instructor?”
Calen rinsed his hands in the cold water and dried them on his coat. He did not look at her at once. He had known the question was coming since the slot went empty on the wall.
“You copied the Director with the Echo still on the list,” he said. “You copied Kade with it. You copied me, on the first morning, and I did not give you the Echo for that.”
Liss frowned. She was working on it, the way she worked on a stance. “So it was not the Echo.”
“It was never the Echo,” said Calen. “The Echo only made it cost less. The looking is yours.”
