"Well, I shall be very careful and keep this on hand," she waves the bottle a little, "and it shall not happen."

"Good."

She puts the bottle in a pocket. "You're--I can't think of a better way to say this than 'really good at this for someone with so little practice.'"

...he laughs.

"I'm serious!"

"It's funny because it's true!"

"Maybe you just have good instincts."

"Could be. Or maybe it has something to do with being three thousand years old."

"I dunno, you spent a decent chunk of those three thousand years torturing people."

"True."

"Not exactly an activity famed for building hostmanship skills.

Well. In most contexts."

"People do tend to find being tortured very inhospitable, most of them."

"Masochists are pretty rare."

"You're not the first I've met, but yes, they are."

"Now I'm curious."

"I've had swans who liked pain. Not enough that they enjoyed my company, but enough to notice."

"Well, that's...probably better than not. And, yeah, I wouldn't be too thrilled to be a swan either, I already told you I'm picky."

"I remember."

"I didn't think you didn't."

"It was memorable."

"Somehow I'm not surprised."

He grins.

"I'll probably be heading back to the library, then. Thank you again for the water."

"You're welcome. Enjoy the books."

"No doubt of that."