"I think - I think actually a lot of things might be okay, and not wrong, but they'd have to - you'd have to want them because they make you happy, without anything complicated about proving things or making the relationship more serious or giving me something or fulfilling a role or avoiding an awkward conversation, and you'd have to be very sure you'd still be glad of them, no matter how we worked out to be in the end, and they'd have to be not interchangeable, it'd have to matter that it was you and that it was me."

Nodnod.

"I kind of think most people in Cheliax are doing things that make them happy, in terms of - specific instances of having sex. And I'd worry that marrying someone doesn't do much to ensure that you're never doing things to avoid conversations or fulfill a role. Just to note places where your picture of the world differs from mine. But - that sounds like a pretty decent set of guidelines to me."

"I think you can definitely have sex when you're married that doesn't - treat the person right."

"Mhmm. Sorry. Don't mean to keep assuming things." Snuggle.

"No, it's - a good thing to point out. I'm just - agreeing."

"'S a good thing to agree on, then."

Snuggle.

Snuggles are good. And they're better when they're not on the couch.

And it still seems to be quite possible to not accidentally have sex.

She was not really worried about that but it's much better than the alternative.

In the morning she wakes up well-rested but kind of has a hard time getting out of bed. Bed is very nice. Maybe she'll just stay here until he wakes up.

Mrrrrgh she should probably get up before she cuts into her prayer time and has to do it later. And definitely before she skips work and someone comes by to see what happened and determines that she is a lazy person who is not of the Body.

She drags herself out of bed and complains to the pendant about its requirements. It calls her adorable.

Eventually he gets up too. Kisses her hand. Goes off to work.

Her life isn't very good right now but it has enough good things in it that she can probably get through this stupid weird blip until things are less awful.

She makes it through the rest of the week in about the same manner. She bakes slightly less sad cookies. She buys paper. She checks the price of passage to the capital and determines that they'll probably only need to save for about three weeks, if they don't spend money on much of anything else besides rent.

He looks after the horses. He snuggles her in the evenings. 

One day he does not come home from work.

Well that's really bad.

She tries to wake up all night and ends up falling asleep on the couch. In the morning she prepares Sending and uses it.

"This is Korva. I don't know where you are or what I should be doing about it. Please respond."

He does not respond.

Well, fuck. 

She goes to work. She makes it through without getting found out, though she doesn't remember much of what happened at the end of the day.

The next morning she tries sending again.

Nope.

     He might have been caught and incapacitated. He's not dead; Sending would normally go through if he was.

How does she get him back?

     Return me to Landru. I really think that's the only way. It doesn't change your plans much, I don't think, though you'll probably have to work a little longer to buy passage on only your wages.

She keeps showing up to work. She spends her nights alone, drawing tiny little drawings on her paper and going over her spell list with the artifact.

And one evening he comes home. He gets back a little after her; takes off his shoes and his coat, hangs the coat by the door.

She almost runs to hug him, and then she realizes that if he were himself he would already have said something.

She plasters her vacant smile to her face. 

"I'd wondered where you were."

He smiles vacantly back at her. "I was with Landru."

Well, this is terrible. Does he remember, does he even know who she is - 

     He can't remember everything, or he'd know you weren't of the Body, and you would have been caught as well. I don't know much about the process, it's so rare that anyone is absorbed as an adult - you'll have to find some way to convince him to take you to the Capital, I can't help you return without Landru's help -

Does she have Break Enchantment? Can she get it?

     It's a fifth level spell. It's beyond me.

"How wonderful," she says, and takes a moment to consider how thoroughly the fairies are going to destroy her if it turns out she's been entangled with them this whole time.

"Landru is wonderful," he says, and sits down at the table and waits for her to serve him dinner.