Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 04:09 PM
After speaking with the princess, Niabheara took it upon herself to go and feed the poor chicken a handful of grain, in the same spirit she might have poured a cup of wine on the speaking-stone of Cnoch-na-Niall in thanks for a successful venture. She would hardly call the meeting successful, although she was relieved that it had not gone far, far worse.

Knocks's cabin was far smaller and seemed to be better insulated than Judith's--snug, not stifling. Eventually she stretched herself out on the rumbled little bed, one arm dangling off the side, and told herself that she was just going to lie here until she worked out what should be done next. Naturally, she was asleep in half a minute.

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 04:20 PM
Which was how she was when Ariel appeared in the room.

She frowned, wondering if it would be permissible to wake the girl up, or if she should just let her sleep. She let out a little hmph, and, after a moment, her curiosity got the better of her and she started rifling through the papers on Knocks'-- now Judith's-- desk.

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 04:25 PM
The countess was only very lightly sleeping--more of a drowse--and she woke enough to realise someone else was in the room. "Mumma?" She sat up, a hand to her head. "You!"

Her eyes narrowed before all the details came back. "Ariel? Are you back again? Will you . . . do you mind much touching iron? The Puck is still aboard and we do not know where it is."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 04:33 PM
The younger girl smiled. "Not at all," she answered, and she fumbled around on the desk, came up with something black and heavy that was apparently being used as a paperweight, and held it up. "All right?" she asked. "Does that do it? I'm...I'm back, but I'm sort of in my official capacity now? I'm...well, I guess if you were you, I wouldn't be able to talk to you, but since you're Elaine, I can, and I thought it might be nice for you to see what this is all about."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 04:38 PM
"What official capacity?" She tried not to sound cross, but she was still shrugging off sleep. "We didn't think you'd be away so long. That girl is still about, but I've not seen much of her. I think she hides."

Straightening up, Niabheara looked both curious and wary at the other girl. "Everything is all right, isn't it? Other than--" And she gestured around them, indicating the general spirit of chaos.

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 04:43 PM
Ariel nodded. "I think so. Mostly," she answered. "I'm sorry, but the problem is that as long as she can't psychopomp, they need someone else to do it. So I've been filling in. And." She shrugged. "Sort of taking advantage of the perks. The worst thing they can do is reset time back to before I did anything they didn't like, so I figure it's at least worth a shot. How are you doing?"

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 04:48 PM
"So it isn't her," Niabheara replied, inflectionless from disbelief. "It's not something she is, it's something she can shuffle off on other people whene'er the mood suits her." She scowled down at her hands on her lap. "I don't know if that makes her better or worse, honestly."

She raised her eyes back to Ariel. "But you've been all right? Where have you been? Did she tell you where to go and what to do or do you get to decide?"

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 04:52 PM
"Mostly I get to decide," Ariel answered. "Sometimes I just show up places without any warning. You, I wanted to talk to. It's...hard to explain, really," she said, scrunching her face up, before she dropped down to sit on the bed beside the other girl. "When I'm not talking to somebody, it's sort of like taking a nap. I don't exist at all. It's like...when you're watching a play, and a character leaves the stage, I suppose?"

"But it is what she is, really," she added. "She...she's not one of us. She doesn't have any past or any...well, she's not supposed to have mortal attachments. She's sort of developed a few, and she's really not meant to do that. But she operates outside the whole...system, I guess you would call it? Which means she doesn't have to deal with being a person, but at the same time, she doesn't get to be a person. I kind of feel sorry for her, really. I think that's why she...didn't bother preventing herself from getting switched?"

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 04:59 PM
"She also knows things she has no business knowing," Niabheara added, sullen. "She knows when people are going to die." The thought startled her and she stared at Ariel a moment, wondering if that might not be exactly why the girl had come here now. "I don't understand this at all. Is there any reason to it?"


Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 05:06 PM
"Yes," Ariel answered. "And it's not a reason you're going to like, I'm afraid. It's...she doesn't know when people are going to die. She can't tell the future. She...I can do it right now, too. Say...well, right now. I know that you're worried that I'm here because someone's going to die? But I don't know if someone is. I can...the same way you can see a lot of possible outcomes for everything you do, I can see those, too, only...I have a better sense of what everyone else is thinking about doing, or already has done, so I can see more potential outcomes. And my-- her job, really-- is sort of...trying to pick the one that keeps the most people alive and...well, the part you're not going to like? Interesting."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 05:10 PM
A cold sick gust swept through her guts. "Interesting? Interesting how? Interesting?" Her voice rose to a near squeak. "Interesting to whose standards--hers or ours? Because just now I could be very, very specific as to what I might find 'interesting'."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 06:04 PM
"I told you you wouldn't like it," Ariel pointed out. "I don't think it's hers so much as...it doesn't matter what kind of interesting, as long as things don't stagnate. People need to keep moving, keep being active parts of the continuity. She's got...okay, she's got this thing called a sphere of regard? And there are people who are almost always in it, like you-- she even knows what you're thinking a lot of the time-- and then people who she barely knows exists, like Madrigan and Edric Davies. And it doesn't so much matter if Edric Davies stagnates. But you, Lysander, Judith, Jochy, Captain Romain, the Hartleys, Elaine...she has to keep them from leaving her sphere of regard, I guess, is a good way to put it. She has to make sure you all-- we all-- are always doing things. It doesn't matter what, as long as we have a direction."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 06:59 PM
"So," Niabheara said hotly, "it doesn't matter if we're out killing people, or spreading plague--it doesn't matter how many times the damn Puck tries to jam its hands under my skirts. Just so as long as everyone's having a good time. Has she explained why she does this? What's wrong with us, that we're not wise enough to decide what to do with ourselves?"

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 07:06 PM
"She hasn't explained anything," Ariel replied. "Mostly the other Aspects have. And some of it I've picked up on the way."

She reached for the other girl's shoulder, giving it an encouraging pat. "I know this isn't going to make you feel any better, but she doesn't really get to decide, either," she told Niabheara. But that's sort of how it is. It doesn't matter if you're doing something bad or good. You just have to be doing something that is going to change the status quo. And it doesn't always have to be you. Sometimes it's just a question of getting one person un-stagnant, and then everyone else has to react. Like pond ripples. She's not allowed to interfere. She can't tell you what to do or actively help you do it. She's...mostly her job is just to talk to people until they figure out what to do on their own. I don't think it's a question of not being wise enough. I think it's more...being afraid, or conflicted, or lacking confidence."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 09:54 PM
Niabheara still looked unconvinced. "But there's no way to leave the circle of her regard, once you're in it?"

She sighed and looked beseechingly at the other girl. "This doesn't make much sense, Miranda. The one question you haven't answered is, why should she e'en care? What business is it of hers?" Her hands locked into fists against her knees. "And if she doesn't care, why bother? We'd all go on doing things without any sort of influence from her. Perhaps," she added, bitterly, "not terribly interesting things . . . "

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 09:59 PM
"I don't think she has a choice, Countess," Ariel answered, shaking her head. "I don't think-- if she stopped doing her job, they'd replace her with another psychopomp. From what the General told me, it happens all the time. The psychopomp gets too attached to things or people and stops psychopomping properly, and they have to replace her with a new one. It's..." She bit her lip. "It's like...she's more like an actor in a play than a person. She's just got a set thing she does over and over again, and she can't deviate from the script. If she does deviate from the script, they get a new actor. We don't have to-- none of us have to listen to her," she pointed out. "Maybe this is...maybe it's part of the whole Scarlet-thing, the why-you-can't-see-her. Maybe you're disinclined to be influenced by her because she's not supposed to influence you."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 10:07 PM
"I just don't see what the sense in any of it is, is all." She held out her palms in a gesture of helplessness. "The only thing I know about her is that she knew Tristan was going to be killed. She told Marcello she knew. And she neither lifted a hand to stop it nor gave it to one of us to do something about it. And I will not do a thing for her, if that's the sort of creature she is."

She bit her lip and shook her head at Ariel. "Miranda, I don't like this. You're beginning to act like her."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 10:15 PM
"It's different on this side," Ariel said, almost as if she were apologizing. "I don't think I'm acting like her, really. I'm doing a lot of things she'd never do. But I'm trying to explain to you. She's not really a person person. She's more like a construct. She doesn't have morals the way you or I have them, and I know that doesn't sound very good, but she can't really...look, supposing she knew Tristan was going to die, and she'd told M-- Ly-- Marcello," she settled on finally, testing the name on her tongue. "Suppose she did. What if him knowing...You know how he is. He would have...he could have gotten himself killed, and maybe she knew that it wouldn't help. Maybe she knew that Tristan would die no matter what anyone did, and so she kept quiet to keep anyone else from getting hurt. Or maybe...maybe there was something else you did because you thought you could save him, that you wouldn't have done otherwise. You were trying to rescue him, remember? You did your best."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 10:26 PM
"I still don't see why it needs to be like this. It seems more cruel than anything she might've actually done--to let us know that we might have tried something differently that would have worked, rather than ne'er say anything at all. I would rather be ignorant." She crushed her shirttail in her lap and refused to look up at the girl. "What will become of you if they realise you've o'erstepped your boundaries? Will they make you forget it all? E'en this?"

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 10:29 PM
Ariel grinned. "Probably?" she answered. "I don't know. But I'm hoping I'll do enough while I can that they won't fix that it'll make a difference. I don't need to know that I did it, if it really helps things. And if I tell you, they might make you forget, too."

She bit her lip. "I talked to Duke Aengus. The last time you saw him, did you...um. Did you notice something wrong with him, apart from being completely despondent over his wife?"

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 10:32 PM
Niabheara frowned. "The last time I spoke to him, he didn't believe his lady wife was e'en dead. He spoke of her as if she still lived, tried to convince us she still lived. Moira could tell at once there was something the matter. He didn't seem . . . how do you know the Duke? Is he in your circle as well?"

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 10:38 PM
The girl bobbed her head up and down solemnly. "He is," she answered. "I've also figured out what's wrong with him. Mostly from abusing the whole psychopomping thing to high heaven," she said, shrugging. "I'm not supposed to do these kinds of things. I'm not supposed to tell you what's going on in other places in the continuity. I'm not supposed to deliberately influence things in one direction or another. But I was trying to make him un-stagnant, because that's my job, and I figured out why he was stagnant in the first place. Jochy's father took his will to live to resurrect your father. The whole weird little world he's living in where he thinks Lady Bride is still alive? That's the only thing tethering him to life right now."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 10:47 PM
Niabheara stared at the girl. Her hands grew quiet and still. "Does that mean that only one of them can be alive at a time?" she asked in a strange, brittle voice. "If my lord uncle recovers, my father will become as the Duke is now? Or will he simply die?"

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 10:55 PM
"I don't know if he can," Ariel said honestly. "I mean, I just barely understand what that old bastard is talking about most of the time. I don't know if Aengus can recover unless someone took your father away again. I sort of shouted at Maalech a bit because of it," she admitted. "I do not know what the real psychopomp sees in him; he's got no sense of anything larger than himself for all the time he spends obsessed with things that are larger than himself. You'd think people who do nothing but study time and fate and nonsense like that would actually acknowledge that their own personal agendas aren't the most important things in the world."


She rolled her eyes. "You remember all that stuff I told you about him and his wife and your chronal templates and how he was trying to take you over to make his wife not-crazy?"

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 10:59 PM
Niabheara was by now hunched on the bed with her knees drawn up nearly to her chin and her arms crossed over them. "Aye," she said quietly, "though I don't pretend to understand half of it. The impression I had was that he was going to . . . evict me and put her in my place. Is that something like what he's done with my father and the Duke?"

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 11:08 PM
"Okay, so there are all these threads of fate, right?" Ariel explained, drawing threads with her fingers, like her hands were spiders spinning webs. "And you've got some tied to you, and some tied to other people, and whatever, and don't take this exactly as gospel truth, because I really don't understand it. So what he did? Was he took the ones tied between the mortal plane and your uncle, and cut them off of your uncle, and tied them to your father. So then your father was tied to the world again and came back. It's like...cutting the moorings on one boat and tying them to another, I guess? And then your uncle should have floated away because he had no moorings, but he got stuck on some shoals or something and only floated a little bit away. Metaphysically," she added. "So that's what they are. With his wife, he cut the strings between her and time? So she doesn't really live situated in time. So he wanted to, I guess, tied your strings to hers and wait for them to get all knotted up and eventually she'd be you. Except your life has to follow the exact pattern hers does. And he brought your father back to help you follow that pattern. And 'Sander is part of it, too. Only I don't know if that was on purpose? But 'Sander is playing his role, and you're playing her role, and he sent your father back to help you become Queen, and he said the only other thing it would take is for you to get pregnant, and if that happens, the whole thing is set too far in motion for him to take it back or fix it."

She pursed her lips. "So I told him to use Lady Bride instead."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 11:18 PM
"Was that supposed to make sense? Did it make sense when someone explained it to you? I hope by all the gods it did, because otherwise . . . . " The girl pinched the bridge of her nose. "The only thing I understand of this is that Jochy's father planned to take me away and replace me with her. And now you tell me he's done much the same thing with my father and the Duke. Can I go along with just understanding that much of it? Is that right? Because if that's the case then someone else is going to have . . . to die, or else go mad, for the Lady Bride to be my replacement, and e'en still, it won't be Lady Bride who comes back. It'll be whate'er Jochy's father deigned to put in her place. It's the same arrangement. Nothing will be solved."

When she dropped her hand, she looked purely furious. "And you may also tell him that if all his plans hinge on my getting pregnant, he might have a terribly, terribly long wait ahead of him."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 11:24 PM
Ariel nodded. "You're understand enough," she assured Niabheara. "And I already said that to him. About you getting pregnant." She made a face. "And it...well, look. The reason I suggested it isn't so much to bring LAdy Bride back. But she's dead, right? So it's not the same as using you to do it. And if the only thing tetherin Aengus to this life is his wife, he'd do a lot better if he thought an alive wife was alive instead of wasting away reading to a dead one. No offense, but I think everybody would be a lot, lot safer if you called things off with my brother. He's the one who keeps getting influenced by the real psychopomp; he's the one who somehow ended up making friends with Maalech's wife."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 11:29 PM
Niabheara blinked, then looked enraged. "I don't see what your brother has to do with any of this. And it is most certainly not the same. Lady Bride is dead, no matter how untimely, no matter how wrong, no matter what it's made of her husband. She deserves better than to be considered . . . I don't e'en know what this would mean. She's not an empty vessel that no one happens to be using at the moment; she was a person."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 11:33 PM
"I know that," Ariel said. "But if it would keep Aengus alive and make him not-sick?" she suggested. "If it would give you back your allies in Oireachteigh? Isn't it worth that?"

She sighed, then gave Niabheara a plaintive look. "My brother has everything to do with it. Who's the one who keeps listening to the psychopomp? Seriously. If you told him to do something, and she told him to do the opposite, who do you think he'd end up listening to?"

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 11:40 PM
"And if she comes back as Titania has clearly come back?" Niabheara shot as a challenge. "If the Duke sees her and regains reason and realises that this is not his wife, what then? Do we kill her again? And after that? You've spoken to Jochy's father; you said yourself the man's obsessed with this idea, to the exclusion of all else--do you really believe he'd consider it at an end there?"

The girl's chin shook. "I don't understand this. I don't understand why Marcello should e'en be a figure here. There has not been one time he's spoken to her and has not come to tell me." That she knew of. Damn it, there it was: the first note of doubt.

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 11:46 PM
"Titania was an evil bitch before she died," Ariel pointed out. "Look, it's called a compromise. I was trying to come up with a way to get him to not mess you up."

She gave the other girl a wry look. "Did he tell you he kissed her, then?" she asked interestedly. "Did he tell you about the time she gave him pointers on how to get you to sleep with him? Because she had a bet?"

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 17 2008, 11:51 PM
Niabheara's chin lifted swiftly. "Soothly? And if I put him to the question, what do you think he'd say? You have the foresight, and you don't seem to have many qualms about using it. So tell me."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 17 2008, 11:58 PM
Ariel rolled her eyes. "He's my brother; I know him better than the psychopomp does anyway. He'll tell you the kiss didn't mean anything and insist that he didn't know she was trying to win a bet. But it's still true. I also know how he gets with girls. If he hadn't taken her advice, he would have been too scared to try anything; he would've gone right on being chaste and polite and then suddenly out of nowhere he would have either gotten ridiculously angry with you or slept with somebody else somewhere you would've caught him and you'd have no idea why but it'd be because he was waiting for you to make the first move and he'd get worked up and convince himself you didn't really want him."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 18 2008, 12:11 AM
Niabheara glared hard at the girl, even as she felt her throat locking up. "Then let that be between he and I. The point moreo'er is that Jochy's father is only planning to make things worse. Rather than compromise, it would be best to move to stop him. I've heard enough of Jochy's mother that I do not want to find myself in association with her in any wise, no matter what seeming she wears."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 18 2008, 12:17 AM
"That might be between you and my brother, then, too, since he's decided to play hero to her and keeps drawing her even closer to him," Ariel pointed out. Then she shrugged. "I can't stop him outright, Countess. I can only...I'm not even really supposed to make suggestions. I already lied madly to get him to lay off you. The thing is..."

And she paused, thoughtfully. "Maalech can't do anything. He is stopped, effectively. He's got no power. Which is part of the problem, he set this thing in motion to turn you into his wife, and he hasn't got any magic to turn it off, so he's just letting it run its course. You want someone who can really change things? And might be willing to try and do things differently from how Maalech says?"

She arched an eyebrow at the girl. "Talk to Seth."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 18 2008, 12:23 AM
Niabheara scarcely seemed to hear the advice. She was still staring at the girl, a flinty, distrustful stare. Slowly, she shook her head. "We've got to change back," she said quietly. "You're becoming like her. You don't care about any of this because we're people; you're starting to care because it's interesting."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 18 2008, 12:27 AM
Ariel's chin jutted out. "Are you even listening to me?" she demanded. "I've been milking that asshole for every last bit of information I can get to try to keep you from getting turned into his crazy wife! And I'm not even doing it for you! I'm doing it for my brother in spite of the fact that I think you're horrible for him! And no offense, because I like you plenty, just not around him! And I'm planning on going to stupid Titania for you!"

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 18 2008, 12:40 AM
"I am listening to you! Are you listening to yourself?" It was becoming impossible to keep her temper. "This is not the sort of thing that can be compromised! It has to be made to end, else we all find ourselves in the same fix later, just as soon as he scrapes together a new plan! You don't--" Her voice broke. "You don't understand. You don't. You've made a mistake in telling me, if this is the way things are going to end, because all I can do is try to stop it. Lady Bride must stay dead. Jochy's mother must stay as she is. If that means the Duke stays mad and my father stays living, so be it. As long as this thing spreads no further than it has done."

She covered her face, briefly, with her fingertips pressed into the corners of her eyes. "I'll talk to Seth," she said in an ugly tone. "Is that what you came to tell me? Since you so clearly have the matter under control."


Posted by: Serendipity Jul 18 2008, 12:44 AM
Ariel made a face. "I thought you'd at least be grateful," she said, huffily. "I'm trying to save your life. And anyway, if I were really being like he about this, I'd be pleased right now that you're doing something about it, because that's all that matters."

"That wasn't all," she said. "Look, as long as I'm like this, I can go talk to almost anyone you want me to. I was going to go give Titania a piece of my mind. And see if I could check on your bard. Is there anything else you want me to do? Anyone you want me to see?"

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 18 2008, 12:57 AM
Niabheara almost laughed. "When have I e'er asked you to speak to anyone, save for your brother? Go and talk to him. Let him know you're still well."

She hated feeling miserable and small and trapped. Like a rabbit, once the ferret had been fed down the hole: there was no place left to go save deeper down, and even that refuge would lead to a dead end eventually. "I am grateful," she said in a quieter voice. "I only wish I had more say in the matter. Do you not realise, that's what you are? You're like a harbinger for the end of decisions. I don't know if you can see it that way."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 18 2008, 01:02 AM
Ariel shook her head. "That's not what it is," she answered. "The psychopomp is what comes when you think you've gotten to the end of decisions and you need somebody to set a fire under you to get you going and make a new one. It's not to signify what's over; it's to signify that something new is about to come. You do have a say in the matter," she pointed out. "If you weren't meant to have a say, I wouldn't hsve said anything to you. It's your decision now," she added, wih an uncertain smile. "This way, if they make me forget everything, you'll still know."

She madean uncomfortable face, shifting from foot to foot. "There's one more thing before I go."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 18 2008, 01:05 AM
Niabheara sighed, unsatisfied, and bowed her head to the girl. "Good neighbour, Miranda. I won't lie, I'm angry. There's something too slippery about this, something wrong. But I will try to heed you."

She glanced up, and waited for the rest.

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 18 2008, 01:11 AM
"I know there's something wrong," the girl answered. "I've been asking and asking the other aspects, and they don't even know what it is, but they all...not all. But some of them know it. They don't know what it is, though."

She scratched at her arms. "Um. So this isn't really something I've even dealt with, but it's in the sphere of my regard, and I've got to tell somebody or I'm going to end up telling the wrong person? But your brother's been messing around with Sylvie. Which wouldn't be here or there except that Elaine's the one he really likes? Liked." She looked unsure. "And it is really uncomfortable to know all these things. I'm sort of glad you're all in different bodies too because I would not want to have to know that much about you and my brother."

Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 18 2008, 01:21 AM
Niabheara--who had tensed up visibly at the first mention of her brother--seemed to nearly dissolve with relief. After which she was just dismayed. "Oh, no. Does this mean I have to tell her, then? Miranda, she's just gotten o'er his being the Puck; she's going to be heart-sick about this. Is it a requirement that I tell her?"

But he was all right, wherever he was. He was an idiot, granted, but he was still alive. Niabheara hugged the information to herself as a single leaden grain of worry slid away.

She smirked up at the girl. "If that's the case, you may wish to avoid reading my thoughts for some time to come."

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 18 2008, 01:25 AM
The girl shook her head. "No requirement," she answered honestly. "I'm only telling you because if I didn't tell somebody, I'd burst. You don't have to say a word about it unless you think it's better. You know them both better than I do."

Then she made a face. "I can't read your thoughts right now," she answered sweetly. "Only some of the time."


Posted by: Elaine Romain Jul 18 2008, 01:34 AM
Which was the worst thing the girl might have said, as, in order to avoid thinking of something, you had to be aware of what not to think about, which required actually thinking of it. Niabheara had managed not to think of sex for a good four or six hours; now she found herself mentally swallowing down the details for fear of having them spied on. She looked sheepishly up at the girl. "Then I won't tell her. He can man up to it when we get him back. And if he doesn't, I'll bully him into it on your behalf."

Hand to her breast, she bowed her head again--determinedly not thinking anything at all. The best way to do this was to try to imagine all the drumbeats for "Anam Cara".

Posted by: Serendipity Jul 18 2008, 01:39 AM
"I'm hoping by then, I'll be me again," the girl in black answered. "I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to see my brother?" she admitted. "So it'd be better if you just tell him I send my love?"

She laughed at the girl's thoughts, shaking her head in amusement. 'And I appreciate the effort," she assured her. "It's better than Jochy. Him, I know every time he's got a hard-on."

And on that note, she was gone.