She holds his gaze for a moment longer, but her unspoken question doesn't seem to change his mind. Her own mouth ticks another quarter-curve into a quirking smile, and she turns back to the table at large, laughing: "Why would I get it wrong? I was there!"

To Shuri, T'Challa, and Nakia, she says: "Franche-Comté was where we met. It's a little town in eastern France I visited one weekend to take a break from work."

Butter wouldn't melt in her angelic mouth. "There I was, minding my own business –"