"I think you are, perhaps, projecting a little." Not that it stops her from sharing fresh scraps of salmon. Not that it stops her from tickling that exposed belly and scratching Remi under the chin. These are the smaller things, the simple things. She can do this when she needs to; feed a kitten, keep it warm, keep it safe. One thing she knows she can get right in the middle of so many ideological and political quagmires she must wade through day in, day out.

A nice, mindless moment between cramped pages of academic texts and grat requests. "Such a little actress, isn't she?"