It had been a few weeks. Rainstorms had come and gone, the sun was relentlessly warm, and midsummer was approaching. Unlike his last stay here, Maalech had not gone back to working. He had other problems now, and other things on his mind. Normal life was wrought with increasing problems, which paled in the face of everything else.

Or perhaps everything else was just a problem because of normal life.

It mattered little, and yet he wished to know.

Midsummer was coming and he had been dreading that evening quite a bit. But, all signs spoke of danger being averted, and hells above and below was he not a sad man now that he had been reduced to trusting signs? Not being able to Know?

He was. And he knew it. And still, there was things that needed to be done, things that had led him to the market. Looking at yarns, running his hands over the different textures and sizes. This was work he knew. Work that he did not need to think about.

Comfort perhaps.

Morgan was behind the next row of yarns. Maybe he liked just Being places. He wasn't all that sure any more.

He looked a little tired. Maybe he just felt that way. He touched a bit of bright violet yarn and looked over at Maalech for a moment before offering a smile.

"Hey, Mal. How goes it?"

"Ah, had it been that long already?" Maalech almost smiled back, at least one could interpret the slight twitch at the corners of his mouth for a smile. "I trust that nothing catastrophic has happened?" Trust was perhaps a strong word.

Hope might be a better one.

"It is the same as it was the last week and the week before. It has been quiet since the weave was dissolved, it seems that the Countess was the cause for much of the consternation. Once she was out of the equation..." He made a gesture with one hand "Quiet. Peace and quiet." Not that he looked very pleased with that.

"Hard to say what 'long' is any more, but, yeah. Thought I'd see how you were. To say nothing of getting a break from three very particular redheads." He shrugged some. "Of which, I'm happy to say, the Countess isn't one."

The man cracked his neck, looking over at Maalech, "But I thought I'd get some peace and quiet of my own. Being an object of scorn for a fallen demigoddess while caring for a couple of kids who just like screaming and slapping is kind of... I don't know. Draining, I guess."

He paused for a moment then, "Seriously, do you have your 'perspective' yet?"

"I wish." Maalech pondered his reply for a moment, then added "I suppose no would have been a more honest answer." He picked up one of the bundles of yarn, then put it down again.

It took him a little to find more words "I did not wish for it to come to this. Truly. She is still furious then?" It was not asked lightly, if anything he broached the subject hesitantly.

Morgan sighed and ran a hand over his head. At least Mal had picked up something approaching the seed of a sense of humour along the way. Maybe it was a function of being low to the ground that made you funny. "Of course she is, Maalech. She was Alynealin. Now she's just a woman." The man shrugged a little, "But she'll be okay in the bye and bye. She's bonding with the kids, anyway."

"She was always willing to do everything for her family. I am not surprised." He shook his head at the merchant, putting back the things before he walked away. He did not wish to air too much of what he was about to say in the open, or perhaps he simply thought it might be easier if he walked.

"For all the things I did, that is the one thing I doubt that she can forgive. Even if I gave her the reasons for it."

"No, she won't. And we'll both be worse for it once she gets her way." The man shrugged some, "Not to nag, but if I were you and had a chance to, I'd ask Anne and Scarlet really nice about their little escape hatch. You two may be matched once you're Ascended or whatever you call it, but..." He shrugged some and looked to the man.

"She's never been exactly stable, Mal. I imagine that's why you fell for her."

"It is not an escape. It never was." Maalech sighed and turned left, deciding towards heading uphill rather than the beach. He wanted open spaces, as much as was possible on this island. "And I would not dream of using it like that. I very much doubt that it would even be allowed. It is far more important than my personal problems." He uttered the last words with enough disdain to curl his lips.

"But you are right. She is very far from stable. She never was. I suppose people with gifts like hers are more served by approaching madness than reason. And yet... would she kill me? Perhaps. Would I begrudge her that? Not really. And yet... I have no intention of finishing my existence here, like this. Thus we are at an impasse."

"Just in case, is all I'm saying. Doesn't sound like you even really get to still be you by the end of it..." The man shrugged. "I don't know. Scarlet was really... vague in a specific way about it all. Like when you're an apprentice and you listen to one of your Mentor's friends just start talking." He shrugged a little and cracked his neck.

"And I wouldn't let her get you like this. It wouldn't be... I don't know. Right, I guess."