Niabheara leaned back in pure frustration. "What if I went through the city blighting their grain and cursing their cattle?"

Miranda laughed. "Then they'd come after us with pitchforks and the whole family would have to move," she answered.

"Which would solve the problem just as well," Niabheara concluded, "but would be an inconvenience. It was just a thought. The getting-married part, not the blighting-corn part."

"I know," Miranda said, a little shyly. "I would like to get married," she said. "I do want to have a husband and a family someday. But you sort of need another person to marry."

"And you are very young," Niabheara said. "Well. I assume. I really don't know how old is old for tallfolk." She looked embarrassed at the admission. "Your people are confusing."

"I'm just about the right age," Miranda answered. "Plenty of girls are married at my age, but plenty are just starting to look for a husband. Rillie's getting to be on the older side for not being married, and she's your age. She could still go maybe a few more years before people would really think it was odd. It's a little older for men, though."

"I'll bear it in mind," Niabheara said obscurely, with a faint air of amusement. "I just . . . I don't understand what on earth you're meant to be doing. You only had a baby. It's not as if you killed someone."

"I had a baby without a husband," Miranda replied. "it's practically as bad."

"No it isn't," Niabheara said. "It really isn't. It's mad."

"I don't make the rules," Miranda said with a shrug. "I just have to deal with the consequences."