"I know she will. She can be about as stubborn as me sometimes."

She had absolute faith that Karin would get there in the end, whether in the next test or years down the road. With the piles finally sorted and no more spare papers floating around from the last few weeks, she set the stacks where they belonged.

"No you won't, you're my guest in the village so I'll treat you. It's your first day here anyway."

She sat down and dug around in one of her desk drawers. She withdrew four decent-sized smooth stones and put one on top of each pile of papers.

"It's almost lunch time here anyway, so why don't we get out of here a little early? Do me a favor and close the office door, okay?"