A young man--- or what appeared to be a young man--- walked into the workshop. It was hard to tell with the Sentinels; they all stopped aging when they joined, so who was to say whether he was a raw recruit or some hardened veteran, at least at first glance. Of course, the hardened veterans tended to have an air about them, and the higher command even more so. There wasn't a soul who dared address Lady Rici with casual dismissal, whether they knew who she was or not, for all that she looked not a day over twenty--- and likely younger still.
She had planned on ignoring him entirely, really, until he leaned on the counter. Her eyes snapped up at that, irritably. He was smiling. "What have you got for me today, Jocasta? Something good, I take it."
Jocasta took her time finishing the runes on her current piece of work before even bothering to respond. "Being demoted, are we? Your department said they'd send a recruit to pick it up. I didn't think they'd send you."