Emmy, about a dozen years before Last Specter.
I wrote this snippet as a flashback while working on Kintsukuroi, my longfic about Emmy. Unfortunately the chapter I was working on proved to have no good place for it, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to reuse it elsewhere. I like it as a little window into Emmy's childhood, though, so here it is!
"Emmeline, if you let your eyes dart all over the place like that, you'll blow your cover before you even open your mouth."
"I thought you said lying was bad, Uncle. I don't like this. I want to read with you some more."
He sighed and lifted me up on his knee. "You need to be ready when you're old enough to go on a mission, my star. That means we have to practice this. You want to help Targent, don't you?"
I nodded, and snuggled into his shoulder. "But why do I have to pretend I'm not Targent if I am?"
"Because there are all sorts of bad people out there trying to stop us. Not everyone understands the importance of what we do." He set me down. "It's safer this way. For everyone. Now try again."
"I'm tired."
"Stop sulking, Emmeline, and try again."