"No problem," Tony says cheerfully.

Bella doesn't have to look where they're going anymore! She produces a book and looks up at the scenery once a page, and also at princesses if addressed.

"Whatcha readin'?" asks Tony, who is not well-placed to see either the pages or the cover.

"Highlights of Elven Theurgy by Raxtus Shadowmusic-Smith!" reports Bella.

"Is it interesting?" she laughs. "With a title like that it could go either way."

"It contains fewer things I didn't already know than I'd hoped, but it's very well put together."

"So what is it actually about?"

"It's a survey of the coolest parts of elf magic. This section's about wards and other defensive spells."

"Anything I'd understand in there?"

"Mmm... I'm not sure. I don't know anything about royal magic. Certainly it's nothing in common with dwarf magic or fire-witchery. 'Anchoring a ward on a tree does nothing to defend the tree, so wards are routinely stacked with the copious application of arbrex charms; it may also help to invert the dimensional identifiers differently with each layer if the wards are otherwise meant to cover the same area'?"

"Sorry," chuckles Bella. "I'll pull a novel next and I can read aloud if you want."

"It's okay," says Tony. "Read what you wanna read."

"Hmm?" Bella looks around, expecting something along the lines of a baby rabbit.

"No, the cute thing is you," Tony says fondly.

Bella peers down at herself. "Did reading become cute all of a sudden? Or did I turn fluffy and not notice? Or is it a mystery that will be explained only with cunning graphs?"

"You had your head on my shoulder," Tony explains. "It was cute."

"Oh," says Bella, turning a little pink. "I didn't realize. You don't mind?"

"Aww is not a sound of minding."

"Just checking," says Bella with a soft giggle. She puts her head back where it was, and she smiles, and she turns a page.

Tony giggles, too.

It's about an hour after lunch when they are next in a position to encounter somebody. The somebody is behind a tree over there and he's doing a very bad job of masking his sniffling.