"What, then, did you have in mind?"

Susanne shrugged and plopped down in the big overstuffed chair. "I dunno... guess I'm just bored."

"I would think that would be a nice change." Roger crossed over to the bookshelf, took out a book, and settled on the couch.

"Are you just going to sit there, then?"

"As much as you know I'd love to be out fighting, I do have some things to catch up on."

"Catch up on?" Susanne said confusedly. "For what?"

With a sigh, Roger closed the book again. It was impossible to lie to her, so whatever he said had to at least be a version of the truth. "After I was made a Guardian but before I was actually assigned to you, I was given things to read, to familiarize myself with what it would take to be your Guardian."

"Dare I ask whether or not you did the reading?"

"Did you read Catch-22?"

"Touche. I got an A on it and never looked back. Unless I'm really missing something, you seem to be doing fine. I don't know why you seem to think you need to do the reading now. Well, there is that little matter of what the Council is going to to after the Game, but... you're not worried about that, are you?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I just... well, I guess I've just got the feeling that I'm missing something important. Something that I should know."

"Ah... okay." Susanne looked around, trying to think of something to do. "Hey, I'm gonna go for a walk, then."

"Where to?"

"Around. Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

"Okay." Roger watched out of the corner of his eye as Susanne opened a portal and jumped in, then breathed a sigh of relief and opened the book back up, flipping through it til he found the page he'd been reading.