Vex heaves a sigh, not her first of the evening but the heaviest. Then she hitches one shoulder in a shrug.

"My brother is here," she admits. "And it seems he's been here for some time. So while I would rather neither of us arrived, I can only be too put out about it. It's natural I'd show up sooner or later."

And she'd prefer it if the alternative is that Vax be alone.

For values of alone.