Morgana shut the door behind her, chuckling. "He's still at it, if you can believe it," she told Cara before she went to build up the fire. "If he's not come back on his own power by dinner, I'll drag him in."

Cara laughed, shrugging amusedly. "He has a new toy," she pointed out. "There's nothing we can do. I'm just waiting for him to decide to fix my eyes."

Morgana shrugged and brushed her hands on her knees. "It's his way. He likes you, he wants to give you something. Like a cat bringing home tidbits, aye?" She stood up, her head tilted to the side, curious. "Would you like someone to fix them?"

Cara shook her head. "Sometimes I think it would be more convenient," she said, "but I think that I might lose something, too. I always worry that maybe the things I'm good at...that if my eyes could see, the rest of me couldn't."

Morgana made a small sound of understanding. "You have an equilibrium," she agreed. "And eyes are delicate enough as it is."

Cara smiled slightly. "I like that," she agreed. "Equilibrium. Yes." She tilted her head toward the door. "Do you think he'll be all right?"

Morgana leaned the small of her back to the edge of the table, looking thoughtfully at the side window as if she could see through it to the man outside. "In that I think the warding took and no harm done? Aye, I think we've already enough proof of that. How he'll be with his power back . . . I couldn't say." She sighed. "I would hope he is old enough now to handle it."

"You think it was him, then?" Cara asked. "Handling it badly? Not separate entities after all?"

"I think most of Jochy's troubles start with him," Morgana said seriously. "If there's anything else there, it's not much help. I confess I do not know rightly what he is."

"Now?" Cara asked. "Now he's a man. In some ways he reminds me of one of the boys who's just finished university and is constantly disappointed that the world isn't exactly what he expected it to be, but hasn't become cynical yet and keeps moving forward optimistically. I think that's...well...he's a little bit older than most of those boys, but at the University, it's easy enough to mistake him. And people welcome the esoteric there. I think that...what he is now...I think that's more important than what he was, as long as he can keep being it."