"Oh, it does."

"It looks pretty bad."

He glances down at it. "Huh, does it?"

"If you were human I'd be pretty concerned it might be fatal."

"It's pretty much impossible to kill someone you're indebted to."

"Ah. Okay. Good to know."

"I've heard of people killing people who were only a little indebted to them but - in stories, you know, since it takes being clever and exceptionally fortunate both and the opportunities wouldn't come along frequently in life."

"Makes sense. - I kind of want to hug you right now but I also don't want to make that hurt any more than it does already."

Hug. "Paying for our food hurt worse, honestly."

" - hmm?"

"- cause that was the intent, while I assume swords are not actually meant to be particularly painful, they're just meant to kill people."

" - no, yeah, I just - I didn't realize they'd hurt you for it."

"It's not safe for the court, letting us run off with a debt that's really out of hand."

Nodnodnod. He is getting really a lot of hugs now, though.

Patpatpat. "I didn't want you to worry. I think humans are - different in such a way that - if they'd done that with you it would've been bad for you and you're imagining from that, maybe."

"Very hard to imagine it not being bad for someone. Especially coming from someone they trusted. Thank you. I had no idea I was asking for that, but - thank you."

"I thought being married meant no more tracking debts."

"...Yeah. Okay. I love you very much."

"I love you too."

Best husband. She is so incredibly astonishingly lucky to have him.

He honestly feels like normally when you steal a human in a forest you don't get the six-language-speaking court poet of the empire of Scandinavia who is totally devoted and wildly eager for you as soon as it is established that you will love her and comfort her, or the chance to topple an empire avenging the last decade of her sex life. 

If you did, then humans would be a lot more popular probably.

Well. Maybe they can both be astonishingly lucky.

Maybe so.

They make the long trek south. They feed the emperor and give him water. They have special attachments for the wagon to go over the water.

Rána's stomach heals.

Well, he'll just sit in this cage to be delivered to the queen of fairies, or whoever, won't he. He doesn't refuse food.