"So what is so inconvenient about not wanting to torture people?"

"Ever tried to build a structured spell out of pain magic?"

"You can do that?"

"You can! But if you're not amazingly careful with it, it'll start fucking up after a few years and eventually get so wild you can barely tell what it was originally supposed to do, and that's most of why the old capital is so dangerous to visit! When I built my immortality spell, I got it so it'll stay stable over the long term, but I couldn't make it completely self-sustaining that way, so I have to keep feeding it or it'll unravel and the whole mountain will probably explode."

"Okay, that's pretty inconvenient," she admits. "Structured pain magic, though, wow. No wonder that windriding thing is so smooth."

He grins.

"You are adorable."

"Thank you!"

"Bet you can run your spell off me, if you figure out a way to keep me around forever."

"You don't even know how much it takes."

"Yep," she says. "Bet you can run your spell off me."

"I think you're probably right, and I'm immensely relieved about that, but first I need to figure out how to keep you forever."

"How about keeping me forever, is that on the table?"

"I really hope so. I haven't done much I regret in the last three thousand years, but if I can't figure out a way to save you then making you a swan will be up there with the fall of the Ansati Empire."

"...I'm missing something here," says Fianari. "Actually I think I'm missing several things."

"When I was twenty-six and the imperial crown prince I tried to usurp my father's empire, fucked it up very badly, and then realized I hadn't really wanted it in the first place."

"And when he was vengefully torturing me he hooked me into his immortality spell as a power source, which has the side effects of burning out my mind after a hundred years and turning me into a swan half the time."

"Did you set him on fire an extra time for that?"

"Thought about it, but no. I like this friendly consensual thing we've got going on."

"The friendly consensual thing is very nice."

"I'd say 'why didn't you lead with that one' but I did kind of set you on fire and run away in the middle of a mostly friendly conversation."

"Given my reputation, that was a pretty reasonable thing to do. And I had just vaguely implied I was probably going to kidnap, rape, and torture you."

"Well, it all worked out eventually."

"I like the way it worked out! I even kind of like our house burning down, because now I bet Anlei's going to build me a castle."

"Maaaaybe."