Dierdre looked a bit sad. "No," she agreed. "They weren't. They...Nialla was almost kind, she just went about it all wrong. So where are they, do you think?" She grimaced. "I'm worried we'll lose her. If he starts to...she might leave."

"There's no telling." She wrapped her arms around herself and watched Niabheara and Marcello through the window. "Some of them might have strayed away. Lost their masters, become unmanageable. Turned to wildlings." She glanced back to Dierdre. "That's a hard thing to guess, if she'll stay or leave. I suppose it will depend on if she loves him more than she loves Cnoch-na-Niall, and I wouldn't dare lay money on either side of that bet."

Dierdre shook her head. "It's not that," she said. "If it were a question of those loyalties, she wouldn't marry him. I...she knows she can go back to it. Maybe she'll be gone a while, but it will always open its arms to her. He'll only be here for a little while."

Morgana clicked her tongue. "Ach. That girl. I swear. She gets herself into the damndest situations . . . " She shook her head and chuckled, though without much humour. "I suppose if it didn't happen often, there wouldn't be so many songs about it."

"Exactly!" Dierdre replied, holding her hand out. "And the Puck certainly seems to have had a long life, so I...I would think there would be a lot more of those things running around. And...someone must know," she said, frowning. "They can't all turn into hobgoblins. Unless the transformation kills them?"

"Or they might not live so long to turn hob. The King's hob's the only one I know anything about, and I've ne'er even met it. But it must've been around for . . . " She paused, contemplating the time. "Oh, as long as I remember."

"You've never met it?"

Dierdre looked shocked. "I thought it liked to torment anyone Nialla knows. Mercilessly."

"Not me. Perhaps I'd be more appealing an it knew I'd killed its master." Again, she looked thoughtful, mulling over the reason for this particular neglect--although she couldn't exactly feel slighted. "Or perhaps only because I fear it less than she does. I'd be no fun for it."

"But that's not how it works," Dierdre said. "It torments the rest of us because of her, not because of us. It would want to see how she reacts if it hurts you." She frowned. "Not that I'd like it to. I'm only wondering."

Morgana gave Dierdre a rather cool look. "Best not to invite the thing, if it's stayed away this long. My lady, I honestly do not know. If that was the case, I should have seen it in Oireachteigh."