"I may have to ask you things you don't want to think about, and push you, and hurt your feelings." She replied, calmly. "Are you prepared for me to do that?"

"You hurt my feelings all the time anyway." He gave her a playful nudge, then his expression sobered. "Right, now I know you've been talkin' to another bard. Of course I'm prepared. I trust you."

"Fine. And you'll tell me things, even if you think they'll hurt my feelings?" She asked, smiling. "I had to know what to do, and what was best. I didn't really want.. This way may take longer, but it's easier than crossing you and dealing with the aftermath." She shook her head. "You people let magic complicate everything, when we could have been dealing with this the normal way after all this time."

He shrugged. "It's the difference between picking a lock and pryin' it open with a crowbar. I suppose if you gdon't need the lock again, you might as well break it."

She brushed hair back from his face, concerned. "I'm sure they did what they did because they loved you, Maitiu. Your mama loves you. The other bards who knew you seemed to like you. They thought whatever they were doing was for the best. I just think... If they had just gone slowly, without the bells and whistles, it would have been better. No matter, it's the past."

"Aye, but the past doesn't go away." He shook his head to get put hair back in place. "What do you want to do?"

She grinned at the hair shaking. "You look like Roan when you do that." She said, and then eyed him critically. "Right now? I want to make sure we're packed, and see if we have to wait out the storm. For you, in general, we'll talk when you need it. When you want it." She offered.

"We're packed, and since when does the Sea Witch wait out a storm? I'm not sure she's not causing this one. She got pissed and rained on Oireachteigh that one time," he reminded her. Suddenly he looked shy, hesitant. "You get pissed off when I talk about the past," he said quietly.

"No, I don't." She said quickly, looking sheepish and ashamed. "I did, once. I was jealous." She admitted. "And then we talked and I felt like an ass. It's like you said. That was your life. You should talk about it."

"You don't talk about yours," he chided gently. "We're like newborns, you and me. Both of us started existing around the same time. No past."