The silent sight again. "Perhaps." It didn't make her much happier about being object of that piece of normalcy. She had her fans on Midchilda but there she had her rank as a shield; she was an officer first. Here she and Hokuto were directly responsible to each other, but with no professional relationship to codify their interaction.

In other words, there wasn't a lot Signum could do about it.

"She can't amaze me. She can earn my respect." Hokuto could impress Signum in a sense, chiefly by listening to her and proving she could deal with their current situation in a disciplined manner.