She takes the time Ford requires to read the note to release the pen--an oddly painstaking process, one claw at a time--and lay it politely down on the table where she found it. With that task completed she's ready as she ever is for a new question to work on--and bless all Pthumerians and gods that might look after an Omen such as her, it's an easy one.

no. It isn't a formed word, more an impression of negation of here. The archlich is not here, not in the Archives or Trench or Deer Country or the Waking World.

It does not occur to her to say where he might be, instead. She is too busy staring at the contents of Ford's pockets.