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--
"Sir, what are you planning to do with Miss Hana?"
"As of right now, nothing significant. The girl is not who her parents believed her to be," Reginald answers as he retains focus on surveillance camera sixteen, which overlooks his personal library.
Pogo shuffles a bit in place while also watching the live feed with an attentive eye. "Who is it they believed her to be exactly?"
"One of the forty three, meant to be of astronomical significance to our cause. Or so they claimed." The monocle clad male pulls the folded up birth certificate from his breast pocket and hands it to his companion.
A beat of silence passes as the document is examined.
"A day late," Pogo murmurs in a similar state of befuddlement Reginald experienced upon coming to the realization himself. "She's a normal girl," the chimp continues almost pitifully.
On screen, Hana is tapping a finger against the floor beside her current book in a regulated pattern, simulating the information provided in front of her. Reginald translates her morse code easily.
'Home.'
"Indeed. Completely and utterly normal."
--
Reginald leaves her in the room for five days. At least, Hana thinks it's been five days. She loses track after she gets to the halfway point of books to read.
Within that time, Grace continually comes and goes with food, warm water to wash Hana's face and hair, or a clean bucket for bathroom necessities, to put it delicately. It would be a lie to say Hana is not fond of the woman at this point, especially since she's the only tie the girl has to something other than the theories and research she's overwhelmed her brain with.
For whatever reason - and she's not sure how to feel about this request - Grace has insisted that she call her 'mom'. Hana continues to refer to the caretaker by name (and she plans to keep it that way), but she has compared her biological mother to Grace a lot since then. The conclusion stands that the latter is far more deserving of the title, all things considered.
Still, no amount of fondness could coerce her into calling this stranger her mom.
Hours into her fifth day, the door to her cage opens once Hana sets down the final reading in Reginald's compendium: a journal on quantum physics she'd purposely saved for last because of its difficulty.
When Reginald makes himself known at the doorway, she rises so she's resting on both knees. His expression tells little about his thoughts, just as she remembers, and angry tears prickle in her eyes at the sight of him. The spiteful words bubbling in her throat never leave her mouth, however.
"I see you've managed to get through them all," Reginald muses, scanning the scattered texts on the ground critically.
"You said I only had three days. It's been a lot longer than that," Hana finds the courage to point out.
