“I believe I'll be the judge of how much peril you're worth," he said with a smile."You're daft.""Again, besotted." he said, squeezing her hand. "I'll tell you of it in glorious detail if you can stay awake long enough to hear it."She smiled at him, which eased his heart a bit.”

“Where are you from?" She asked without thinking."I was born in the mountains." Runach said with a shrug. "The place doesn't matter.""Do you have siblings?""Yes, several. Not all are still living. He smiled faintly. "You are full of questions this afternoon.""The library was a bad influence on me."Runach smiled briefly. "And I believe that was three questions you asked me, which leaves me with three of my own for you to answer.""That was two.""I don't count very well.""I think you count very well," she said grimly.He only smiled again. "I'll contemplate which answers I'll have and let you know." Aisling thought she just might be dreading them, but couldn't bring herself to say as much."What was your home like?" she asked."Another question.""You look distracted."He smiled and a dimple peeked out at her from his unscarred cheek. "You are more devious than I give you credit for being. I am keeping a tally, you know. I will expect a like number of answers from you."She stared at him for a moment or two. It was difficult not to, but he didnt seem to mind. "Why?" She asked finally."Beacause you are a mystery.""And do you care for a mystery?""I am obsessed by a good mystery," he said frankly. "More than enough to pry a few answers out of you, however I am able.""And what if I am not inclined to give them?" She asked, her mouth suddenly dry."Then I will wonder about you silently.""In truth?" she asked, surprised.Runach smiled, looking just as surprised. "What else would I do? Beat the answers from you?""I don't know." She said slowly. "I don't know what soldiers do."He shook his head. "Hedge all you like, if you like.""Your mother must have been a well-bred lady." She said, frowning."Why do you say that?""She seems to have taught you decent manners, for your being a mere soldier.""She tried," he agreed, looking out over the sea.Aisling turned and looked at him. "How long ago did you lose her?"Runach took a deep breath and dragged his hand through his hair, before he bowed his head and slid her a look. "That answer will cost you dearly."Her first instinct, as always, was to say nothing. But the truth was, she lived and breathed still. She could tell him perhaps a bit about herself, without bringing the curse down upon her head. Aisling took her own deep breath. "Very well.""My mother died twenty years ago, though I vow it feels like yesterday.""How did she die?"Runach was very still. "My father slew her and half my siblings. Time has done the rest of that terrible work I suppose.She shut her mouth, and put her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry.""I am too," he agreed. Runach shook his head, then reached for her hand to draw it through his arm. "Let's walk whilst you spew out the answers you owe me. You'll be more comfortable that way, I'm sure.""I'm not sure you should worry about my comfort" Aisling managed, "not after those questions.""But I do. And now that I have bared my soul, I think you should worry about my comfort and do the same.”

“He lifed his head and looked down at her seriously. "Could you," he began, then he had to clear his throat. "Could you learn to be fond of me?" he asked. "With enough time?"She looked at him in surprise. It was the first time in all their acquaintance that she'd heard him sound the least bit hesitant. "I don't need to learn anything," she said, before she thought better of it.”

“What is wrong with the [tale of] Two Swords?" he asked, even more surprised. "Don't you care for it?""There is too bloody much romance in it," she said curtly.Ah, well, here was the crux of it, apparently. "Don't you like romance?" he ventured.She looked as though she were trying to decide if she should weep or, as he had earlier predicted, stick him with whatever blade she could lay her, hand on. "I don't know," she said briskly."I see," he said, though he didn't. He wished, absently, that he'd had at least one sister. He was very well versed in what constituted courtly behavior and appropriate formal wooing practices, thanks to his father's insistence on many such lectures delivered by a dour man whose only acquaintance with women had likely come from reading about them in a book, but he had absolutely no idea how to proceed with a woman whose first instinct when faced with something that made her uncomfortable was to draw her sword...."I'll stop provoking you, but I will have the answer to a question. Why do you think most men woo?""Because they have no sword skill and need something with which to occupy their time?”

“He accepted a cup of ale from his brother-in-law, sat back, then sighed. "Get on with the bludgeoning.""Me?" Miach asked innocently. "Why would I bludgeon?"Runach pursed his lips. "Because you are whoyou are, and you know Soilleir of Cothromaiche very well. I am continually appalled by the simialarites between the two of you."Miach only watched his steadily, a small smile playing around his mouth. "You know what she is, don't you?""Who?""Aisling."Runach shot him a look. "A girl, thank you. I haven't been so long at Buidseachd that I cant recognize one when I see one." He finally leaned on his sword, and looked at his sister's husband."I'm biting. What is she?""A girl."Runach growled. At least he thought he growled. It was difficult to tell what he was doing when all he wanted to do was wipe the smirk off Miach's face."You know," he said shortly, "you annoyed me when you were a lad. You haven't improved since then."Runach looked over his shoulder to make sure no observant gel with shorn hair was standing behind him, eavesdropping with abandon, then leaned closer to his brother-in-law. "Let me lay out for you King Mochriadhemiach, all the problems that sit arranged pleasingly on a trencher before me. Perhaps then you can stop smirking long enough to examine them with me.""You're testy.”

“Ruith?"He looked at her with a smile. "Aye, my love?""Are you sure?"He looked at her, puzzled, for a moment, then apparently he realized what she was asking. "How could you ask?""Because when a gel wants something very badly, she tends to want to avoid breaking her heart over the false hope of having it."His breath caught. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought he was blinking rapidly from something besides the smoke the passageway.”

“Elizabeth," Jamie began gruffly, "there is aught I would speak of with you." She lifted an eyebrow at his lordly tone. "Go ahead." "It may take me a few hours to accustom myself to these possible future ways, but that does not mean I am weak or stupid." Hours? She smiled. "I know that Jamie." "Nor does that mean I have ceased being your lord. You will obey me in all things, as always." "Of course, Jamie," she said meekly. "And should you demand knowledge about this or that, I would give it to you because you required it, not because I thought you didn't know the answer already." "Of course,"Jamie said arrogantly. "There would be no other reason to question you." Elizabeth suppressed her smile and was thankful that she was riding behind him so he didn't see the twinkle in her eyes. Heavens what an ego her husband had.”