She managed a stronger smile with the pat on the shoulder. The last thing she needed to be doing was having 'woe is me' moments in front of someone she had just met. Not that she had those often but the memory of the situation, of the five years in Pylea, still hit her with all the grace of a Mack truck sometimes.
Fred turned to lean against the edge of the table, book still hugged to her chest. "I don't know about genius," she replied, wrinkling her nose. "You, absolutely, but I've got nothing on the minds in my field of study. Just being able to speak in the same room as them was a thrill." And then a portal opened and a tentacled demon had nearly dragged her off someplace that probably would have been worse than Pylea.