[He considers a moment, his eyes falling to his desk before he looked back to her. He couldn't answer that question more than she could, though he knew a bit. He could certainly make a guess from that much.]

'Too firm a hand' may be right. If you didn't like his father and I know some of what his mother did, then I'm sure it's the association rather than anything personal to you.

[Unless she'd done something akin to Leandra: something unkind that she didn't recognize or even maybe thought was kind.

Still, Leandra loved her children even if some of the things she'd done had left their marks. With that association in mind, he could feel the caution he'd put up bend a little.]

Have you asked to meet with him?