"I wouldn't mind," she promised. "It would be an honour to help you. And a camera's dead useful like no other device before it." Her smile widened when he began with his questions though, and she added, "I don't think most people know that sort of thing, but I'm sure there are books you can read on the topic. You don't have to know exactly how something is made in order to know how to use it properly."
Victoire listened, fascinated. A few of them made sense, in a way, and she could see the root of the language connection; but others were completely foreign, and she tried to pronounce them. They would up mangled in her mouth, the syllables mashed together and switched as she grew tongue-tied. "I can't believe how well you've learned English," she said. "I don't know that I would have ever known you hadn't been fluent in it for most of your life, had you not said anything. It's no surprise though, considering how smart and talented you are." This was said as a matter of fact: no need to intentionally compliment a man who was the stuff of legend, after all.
She took a deep breath and shook her head. "No, no - I'm sorry for even bringing it up. This is supposed to be--" She swallowed tightly. "This is supposed to be a nice tea. I'm sorry. There's really nothing anyone else can do, so forget I said anything, please, and I do mean that."
Victoire clutched her tea cup. "I'm so sorry," she said. "That's - that's awful, that you lost so many of your siblings. Whether it's the nature of your time or not...I'm so sorry." His poor mother. She couldn't imagine, and she quickly pushed aside the part of her mind that was trying. "Have any of them joined you here at all?"