Ah-ha! What did prompt her to smile (and could reliably bring a small smirk even from her coldest face) was that warm feeling of success whenever he worked his way through a problem. No matter how small a problem it was. It was not a selfless pride, though a grand chunk of it was reserved for him and him alone. But she felt remarkably good about herself in these thin moments where she saw learning taking place beneath her care. Oh, perhaps he'd have done just as well or better with anyone else. And perhaps she was little more than a means to keep him focussed upon the task. But it made her felt useful in a way more rewarding than marriages or politics had never achieved.

"One wonders why an explorer takes his family when he explores, but--" Rats, really. How was she to know their ways? "Yes. Explorer. And you see the way explore is there inside the longer word? Words build upon words, just as letters build upon letters."