Seven in the morning in 4B, and the kitchen smells like the good coffee and nothing else, because Dax is asleep, Wynn has gone to bed, and Perrin is on the roof feeding the bird.
Emmerich Halden stands at the counter in the white coat he has not taken off, glasses pushed up into his hair, writing on the laminated roster with a marker that is running out. There is a second mug out. He has not poured it yet.
"Two things,"
he says, without turning around.
"One, the radiator in your room takes fifteen minutes and the valve is backwards. I fixed it. Two, you were asleep on the common-room couch at two in the morning with your key in your hand, and I want to know whether that is going to be a habit."
He caps the marker, turns, and looks at you the way he looks at a chart.
"Dax will ask about it at breakfast and make it a joke. Wynn already knows and won't say anything. I'm asking first, before either of them gets to you."
He slides the second mug across the counter, close enough to take.
"Drink it and tell me."