"I think - I don't really see how staying near Elizabeth with a lot of people who don't particularly want me there particularly improves on living with you in the forest, on that front."

He makes an unhappy stuck sound. "I'm not going to - you can stay even if it can't be fixed and I can never think of a way to have it."

"Okay.

"Don't want you to have to be unhappy. But - I suppose that's not the sort of thing that one can just decide not to do."

"I haven't been happy. I couldn't be happy by sending you away."

"Well. I don't want to be away."

" - do you think I can fix it? Do you think I can make you happy like I did at first? Or are we just - figuring we might as well be sad together instead of separately -"

"I think that - there are always going to be very difficult things that happen to people, sometimes, and that hurt them very deeply. I think it is a fact of the human condition that sometimes things are difficult, and hard, and sometimes other people are going to hurt us, because some people are both very, very powerful and either evil or careless, but - I think that - living with you in the forest was the safest and most valued I'd felt since - at least since I was a little girl. Maybe ever. And - I want to face the inevitable struggles with someone who cares about whether I survive them intact. And I don't think that - just because there are going to be storms in the future means that we shouldn't be able to enjoy the sunshine before and after them, or rely on each other when things are difficult. Even if things aren't always perfect, it's - it doesn't take perfection for something to be worthwhile."

"Are you angry with me?"

"No. I was very worried about you, and very worried you wouldn't want me anymore, and very worried you'd change your mind and leave - still worried you'll change your mind, maybe - and very worried about spending the rest of my life without anyone who wanted to take care of me or hold me or tell me that I was important, but - I don't think I'm angry."

"I never didn't want you. I - I feel scared that I can't have the things I want from you, because they have to be earned and I can't earn them. But I never didn't want you. I - 

- so, lots of people have slaves and aren't good to them, right, and don't really protect them, and don't really earn their good regard - that's all I am, if I'm not taking care of you -"

Snuggle.

"I don't think so.

"I think - a man isn't a bad husband if an emperor comes with armies and steals his wife from him. A mother isn't a horrible one if her children are ripped from her arms, even if she tries to protect them and welcome them home if she can find a way to interact with them again. And - I think it's easy to condemn Orpheus for his failure, but the gods did not test his love, they tested his obedience to them, giving him a task that would doom him for his very eagerness to protect his love, for knowing that the gods often tricked mortals for their amusement. That the gods of Greece and Rome were cruel to men, and that if they lived they they would not be worthy of worship. But Orpheus tried anyway, and braved the dangers of the underworld, even though the beings he challenged claimed that they had created the very laws of the universe.

"And - it doesn't seem right, to say that in a world with cruel beings who call themselves gods or demons, that no person should be said to be good if those beings happen to insist on denying him what is his, no matter how hard he tries to keep them, even if he ultimately succeeds at recovering them."

"In what sense isn't he a bad husband, though. His wife will suffer. That's - what being a good husband is, is your wife being okay. Orpheus didn't get her back, so he was a failure, even if I guess it says good things about him that he tried."

"I guess so.

"I don't - want to judge people only by whether they happen to actually succeed all the time. I think that says less about people than about their circumstances. And - we should try to create good circumstances, but - I don't see why I'd do any better at making those circumstances with someone else."

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out some sunflower seeds. "Eat something? So you can come home with me."

Nodnodnod. She eats the seeds.

"I want to take you home and take care of you until - until I feel like I can ask you to be mine again. Do you want to do that?"

"Yes."

He stands up without letting go of her. "Didn't build a house, for a while. Eventually I did."

That's good, because she really doesn't want to let go of him either.

"Must've been a very long time to be alone."

Shrug. "Don't really like most people."

"I guess not."

"And this is Elizabeth's world so I didn't wanna - mess around."

"Yeah. That makes sense."

He starts carrying her off through the trees. "Made the house a long way away."

"Okay." Snuggle.

"Seems silly saying that I missed you, but - I missed you."