Are you sure you're steeping it enough? The dark variety gets pretty strong if you let it sit for long enough. Don't ask how I know this. Field research was involved. [She casts a look out of the kitchen window, amusement noodling along her words.

She tugs a knee up, leaning back into the chair once she's sure the back of it will hold her weight. When did she last sit in a friend's kitchen over a drink, nothing more important in the immediate plan than the sharing of company? She can't remember. The kitchen may be a borrowed one and the moment most definitely stolen, but she finds she wants to pretend a little.]

We have a minute, don't we? [she says softly.] So give it a minute. It'll come to me.