"They do seem to suit each other, don't they."

"Pfff. I guess? It's sounding like they do and he's definitely got the whole shebang with hearts floating around his head and everything. But I haven't exactly sat down with your daughter and grilled her on her views of the world."

"Oh, she's always been kind of a crusading malcontent. She hasn't had a lot of application for it, so far, but she seems to be revving up like she was born for it now she has an idea."

"Ha! See, my brother was sort of passive about it for a while, till the invasion happened and he decided that he was going to fix things. He wasn't like - going to let people die horrifically before, and didn't like the place, but I don't think he was up for any kind of crusading then."

"Well, it seems they've met in the middle, then, haven't they."

"Yeah. They're cute together. Plus I like her, she's spunky."

"Ha! I've never heard quite that description of her, but it suits."

"I was afraid he'd end up with some annoying useless wallflower or something. This is a nice change."

"Did he tend to go for the useless wallflower type before?"

"I'm afraid I don't have much information about what the initial - courtship stage was like. Since Isabella has been very vocal in her opposition to claiming people at daggerpoint and I think she'd be more embarrassed about it if she'd done it anyway."

"Well, I wouldn't put it past her, at any rate."

More giggling. "So what's claiming at daggerpoint? Is it exactly what it sounds like? 'Cause I'm not sure if that's disturbing or hot."

"It's more or less what it sounds like, it's fallen rather out of favor now that witches can no longer expect to get away with murder if declined. I've never done it; my mother did, but not with my father, with her preceding husband. Opinions are divided on disturbing versus hot, but Isabella was firmly in the former camp and I have to say I largely agree with her."

"Huh, well. I'm glad it's not like - widely supported. But it does still sound kinda hot. Horrific, though. No means no, and all that jazz."

"The official story is 'witches just have such overhwelming emotions that we can't bear to live in the same world as someone who's spurned us, it is the only insult, any mortal should be glad to have a witch for a lover', blah blah - so much nonsense, I think. You won't run into this problem, at any rate. Witches who prefer women have their own traditions which mostly don't involve mortals and therefore mostly don't involve predicating their courtship on being able to stab the object of their affections."

"All right. It sounds like a bunch of fluff and garbage, but then again I'm not a witch. I dunno what your heads are like. Maybe some of you are wired like my mom and obsessive and crazy."

"Well, I was never tempted, so I'm not sure, but my experience with Charlie was less 'I took one look and had to have him because of his beautiful eyes' and more 'we enjoy talking to each other and get along so well'."

"Aha. Congrats to you! You sound cute together. I mean - I'm not saying violence for sexy-times is right or anything, just that insanity is a thing that happens to some magic-users for us. Could be the same for you. I'd have to poll all witches everywhere and that's really too much work."

"The fact that it's been so sharply on the decline as the odds of getting punished for it have increased suggests to me that it's nonsense." Pause. "Do you want to talk about your mother or would you sooner skip it?"

"That's not quite the witch habit... it's not uncommon for a witch to marry three or four or more mortals in her lifetime. And we don't tend to flatten cities."

"Huh. Interesting, alright. Good on you guys for not flattening cities, because that's bad. She only did it once, though. She was in the city at the time."

"I'm not even sure how a witch would flatten a city."