"Told you. I'm not the only person who knows about the reputation of creepy-old-blokes. Not that your one is necessarily a creepy old bloke; he probably just didn't want to be mistaken for one." Starling kicked his heel against a table leg, looking her over with interest. "Can I assume you're not tellin' your folks about this?"

Goneril snorted. "They know," she answered. "He insisted I tell them. He introduced himself to them." She rolled her eyes. "I suppose I should be grateful they're not angry with me, but I think my father has a lot more hope for this than I do."

"Right, right, you people take disappearing around a corner with a boy as an engagement, don't you?" He rolled his eyes. "That's why I'm stayin' safely up here on the table."

Goneril smiled. "Don't worry, I don't think my parents would suspect you. Probably mostly because they're met Elaine. But yes. He told me to go chase after him. Which is very sweet, but a little embarrassing, coming from your father."

"It's better than the alternative," he pointed out brightly. "All's me mum ever said about Elaine is that she thought she was a very nice girl and that she didn't raise me to be a fool. Which I assume meant she expected me to know how to handle myself and leave her out of it."

"I wish my parents were like that," Goneril replied. Then she frowned. "Well. For the most part, they are. It's just that they tend to have to remind you of the consequences of doing anything wrong over and over until you feel guilty. Or that's what happens to me. Miranda just gets pregnant and has a baby she doesn't want."

"That wasn't exactly her fault," Starling said. "I mean. It was her fault but she didn't know what she was doing. I don't think."

"I'm pretty sure she knew what she was doing," Goneril replied. "She just thought she could outsmart nature." She made a face. "Which is why Faolin knows I won't go to bed with him unless we find something that actually works. He doesn't want children, I don't want children yet. There's an obvious way to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Don't have sex?" he said, not quite sarcastically.

"Did you need to ask?" Goneril asked. "Anyway, yes, that's my point. The different between me and Mira is that Mira lets her curiosity get ahead of her common sense. And I don't even think she felt anything for Cormac."