Exams

Mr. Firth was a bit grumpy when I asked him about Echo's relative. But he agreed to do it. It took him a lot of time.

He got results back to me today. And explained his earlier grumpiness: apparently, he was taking the exam for promotion. I thought he had already done that, but apparently he failed the first time around, and could retake it now. 

The result is not yet known, but he has the look of a student whose tension is lifted after the exam, and who suddenly feels the tiredness of the weeks of studying wash over him, making him for the moment too exhausted to worry too strongly about how it went.

I suggested we go for a drink, and for the first time since I've known him, he agreed.