"Here's hoping some caffeine kicks that up to 'mostly.'" A low note of humor rolled in his chest, though it was perhaps in bad taste. He'd heard the Cirque had lost two employees in the attack. Unfortunate, but that was life. Neither had been family. Neither had been Lucia. He counted that as cause for a fair mood.
"Mhmm." He watched her nurse her coffee in slow hands, eyelids leaden with sleep, loose hair in her face. It was the mundane, the little vignettes that meant nothing but to those who lived them, that made a life. A considerable chunk of his had simply been absent for the last week. He didn't analyze it. It simply was.
"You shifted." Subtle, as usual. "Any trouble with it?"
The edge of his mouth lifted. "A few of the roustabouts were telling me about 'the new lioness.' A force by herself, from what I hear."