In lieu of cooking something for the party, Evy decides to do what she does best: make tea. It's cool enough on the day of the event that she thinks hot tea is justifiable, so she finds an empty coffee urn and ensures that it's filled with decidedly-not-coffee for the rest of the night. It, too, gets a polite label and ends up set up near the punch.

(The tea is black rather than hibiscus. The availability of the latter seems to be shrinking faster, and as much as she likes her colleagues, she's not going to risk it going to waste.)

Evy's interest in any given work-related party waxes and wanes fairly quickly, but as a member of the school's new board, she feels obliged to remain present for the duration of the get-together. She also considers it a personal obligation to say hello to everyone who attends and introduce herself to anyone she hasn't previously met. "How are you? Have classes been going well?"