( She had fled from him. Barely reconciled, and he had only wished to test the truth of her feet, and she had gone —

But then, his men, those loyal, those who have come to understand that Haiva, returned to health, is the true future of Alem — sought him out. Murmured that she was once more found, that she waited.

She must have come, at long last, to her senses. Some women are fickle and strange and easily overwhelmed by their weak hearts, and can he blame her, for casting them aside? Not once, by denying him, not again by... pushing his hand by the river's side, but again in the castle corridors, and once more, when they only dipped her in the cave for seconds to behold the transformation of her feet —

She has done foolish things, but look at her now, how pretty she is when he walks in the devastated gardens, how demure. His heart remembers her, and he is gladdened to step forward, healthy as he is now, and to set his hand on her shoulder — to show her that he is strong now. Strong enough to look beyond these regrettable incidents. )

I am. You don't... we don't have to speak of it. I know. ( And hastily, cutting her off before she might answer: ) I forgive you.