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Professor Vayne folds his arms. "It was."

"So?" Rhyven asks.

"It isn't now." Rhyven sighs theatrically. "You're relentless." Professor Vayne adds.

"I've been called worse."

"I believe it."

A second later Rhyven is standing beside me again.

"Apparently we're unfinished." He says.

"I was hoping he'd forgotten."

"He doesn't strike me as someone who forgets much." We begin walking slowly around the edge of the chamber. Neither of us speaks immediately. Finally I ask the first question.

"Why didn't you try to make me move?"

He answers without hesitation. "Because I don't like forcing people."

"You've said that."

"You asked why."

He glances toward the floor. "My father taught me something." I wait. "He said..." Rhyven scratches absently at the back of his neck. "If someone only follows because they're afraid of you, they're already looking for the first chance to leave." The sentence catches me off guard.

"That's..." I search for the word.

"Unexpected?" Rhyven asks.

"A little."

"My father usually is." Something softens in his expression when he mentions him. Not sentimentality. Respect. I store that away.

"What about you?" His turn. "Why did you expect me to push?"

The answer comes embarrassingly quickly. "Because that's what I was taught." He waits. "In my family leadership usually looks very certain."

"And?" He asks.

"And certainty often expects obedience."

He nods once. "Does it get it?"

"Usually."

"Does that mean it's right?"

I don't answer. Because I don't know. Across the room, laughter erupts. Rowan has apparently interviewed three different students before realizing the assignment required conversation rather than interrogation. "I was gathering evidence!"

Professor Vayne pinches the bridge of his nose. "You asked one student if his parents hugged him."

"It was relevant." Rowan argues.

"To what?" Professor asks.

"I hadn't reached a conclusion."