Oh good.

"Should I go home now or is there anything else I should stay for?"

"I think that's everything we'd need right now."

"Thank you. - I'm not sure I'll be able to find my way back."

"I think Faerval is singing on the roof. I can invite her back down."

"Oh, I thought she'd gone altogether - thank you."

Faerval comes back a few minutes later. "Hey!"

"Hi."

"You wanna go back?"

Nelen nods.

"Do you want me to carry you? You got tired on the way here."

"I - are you sure?"

"Yes? Are you much denser than you look."

"I don't think so. I think about like water. I just -"

"Yes, your world thinks you are dirty and it would hurt them. But we don't care about that."

"- my feet do hurt."

She steps closer and bends over to scoop him and stops with an eyebrow inquisitively raised. "Okay?"

In a small voice: "Okay."

Scoop.

She sets off out the front door.

He is a little stiff in her arms but doesn't complain. He watches the pretty city go by.

She holds him snugly and mostly walks but occasionally skips and takes him back to where they started.

He laughs, the first time she starts skipping.

Awwwww then she'll skip more.

Then she will deposit a softly giggling red by the portal. "Thank you."

"Of course!"

He goes.

The next day he comes back with another red, much older than him, wrinkled and limping.