"Another woman of power. I'll be sure to watch my move.”

Sabrina arched an eyebrow at him, suspecting that he was being facetious. Except for the boys on her course at Norwich, most men didn’t like women with any kind of sense of self-worth. Let alone real power.

Which hardly described being Head Girl, when all was said and done.

Still he wasn’t trying to look down her blouse, and that was worth another smile. She would take Gavin at face value until further notice, she decided.

"Sioni's a good lad. Upstanding sort and all of that."

“We used to call him the Prince of Hufflepuff,” Sabrina giggled. “Fair play was his middle name, I think. Like most ‘Puffs, terribly serious about doing the right thing.” Excepting where Esperanza was concerned, of course. But that secret she wasn’t allowed to share.

Sabrina poured the tea as Gavin joined them.

"She's right, you know. Moping about here isn't going to help you out in the least."

“Oh, I wouldn’t ever say Caitlin was moping,” Said Sabrina, leaping to her defense. “It can’t be easy.”

"Hands signals? Like that signing language?”

“Sort of. I’ve just got back from Italy, and you can more or less follow a conversation there by watching their hands as much as understanding the Italian. I just thought something similar could… well you know. Be a beginning?”

“Quite brill, really, seeing as this one," he gave Caitlin a nudge with his shoulder, "is too stubborn to write things out.”

“Be fair, how would you like to have to write a note, every time you wanted a biscuit?” Said Sabrina firmly. She was sure Caitlin’s brother was just teasing, but seriously! Didn’t he understand how upset she was?

“We'll see if she's any less stubborn this way," he laughed, reaching for a biscuit.

“Hold on, Mister. You can’t call her a woman of power and then bring it down to stubbornness! You do understand how hard it is to do silent spells, I hope? How would you like it if you were… I don’t know… struck blind? Would you think it a laughing matter? Or… well if your arm was suddenly paralyzed, so you couldn’t grab a biscuit every time you wanted one?” She was tempted to put a body bind on the fellow, just to give him something to laugh about!

Instead, she frowned at her tea as she said, “It isn’t being stubborn, Gavin, it’s learning how to cope.”

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