"Hey, is there an event going on?"
Trust Lyra to gravitate toward the first crowd she sees, Bran thought. He followed her line of sight and had to hold back a grimace. "It's a war memorial," he pointed out, his voice carefully mild.
"So it is," said Lyra, though she didn't seem deterred. "Looks like they're giving away free stuff. You want one?"
"I'm good, thanks," Bran replied, though he knew that by this point there would be no stopping her from going herself.
And sure enough, with a shrug and a grin, she said, "Suit yourself." He watched her melt into the crowd, where he could pick out her voice a few minutes later. "I'll have whatever he's having!" she declared.
He really wondered, sometimes, how she made that work for her. He knew it for what it was; he had his own veneer, and Akira did too, come to that. But Lyra's seemed uniquely exhausting to maintain. Bran certainly couldn't have done it.
She returned some time later, holding up a small banner as her prize. "Ta-da," she said. "Think it'll look good on the dashboard of the bus? Oh, come on, they're waiting for us." As if she hadn't been the one to propose the delay in the first place.
Area: Medicai -
Sleeper Agents - 10
Item: War Standard