Stella Durant and Frank Ford worked efficiently, and within two days they had settled on a departure time—set for three days later.
During those three days, Nora Scott didn't idle about. She stayed at the library all day, thoroughly researching Loulanel's history, politics, and surrounding geography. Thanks to her good memory, reading wasn't too troublesome. However, organizing the information was mentally taxing, more exhausting than a day of martial arts practice.
By contrast, April Thomason went to extremes.
She slept less than four hours a night, slept later than Nora Scott, woke up earlier, and had endless energy during the day, wandering around like a super-efficient robot that's charged in an instant and lasts all day.
Nora watched April with envy, but concurrently—
