"You still have birthday gifts to catch up on, darling," Helena reminded her with a chuckle. While she still didn't have her usual twinkle in her eye, this was definitely a world better than she had been a couple minutes earlier. She was at least processing what Claudia told her. It would take some time for everything to truly sink in, but she wasn't fighting it.
Helena took a sip of her tea, a little pleased sound coming from throat as she did so. "You chose well, Claudia. This tea is simply marvelous," she said with a smile. She then took the package of biscuits and opened it, taking one out and dipping it into her tea for some moments before she bit into it. Then what Claudia told her about one of the Regents, Helena looked at her, clearly surprised. "Pete's mother is a Regent? And she went behind the other Regents' backs and helped you bring Steve back?" That...was two pieces of information Helena hadn't expected to learn. First of all, Pete's mother being a Regent was not something she would have anticipated at any point in time. But the part about a Regent doing something without the others being involved? that was completely unheard of. And it confused Helena completely. "Was she reprimanded for not consulting the other Regents? That really seems out of character for a Regent to just do something to that magnitude without the others being informed beforehand." She wasn't trying to downplay the fact Claudia had brought Steve back to life, it was just not what she expected any Regent to do.