"A nest, lined with down, nice and snug."

"I'll start collecting string."

"What's the string for?"

"The nest, of course. You can't have a sturdy nest without string. And twigs. And - I have no idea how to build a nest."

"I think birds manage without string. Your string-related nestbuilding ways are a dealbreaker, Edarial, we cannot bird together, the difference is irreconcilable."

"Nooooo. Who will I be a bird with now? How will I ever find romance? I'm doomed to become... To become Prime!"

"Wingless, loveless Prime!" laments Iobel. "Surely ruing the day he came into the world by some non-hatching mechanism, behind the wall of impenetrable sarcasm."

"Poor soul. Poor, pathetic soul. Take me back, Iobel! I'll renounce my string gathering ways!"

"I can't ask you to change for me!" she says dramatically, flinging the back of her hand to her forehead. "To betray who you are, only so that you can share my nest? Unthinkable!"

Edarial covers his eyes with a hand, and lets out a fake-sounding sob. "But - but don't you believe in love?!"

"I can't! I don't have wings yet! They're essential to the process!"

"We'll try the embroidery! The hex will take too long, I can't stand it! Come away with me, to the tailor!"

"It will never work! I simply don't have your optimism."

"Alas. Our relationship is doomed before it even began. Tell me, who do you plan to build a nest with now? I must know, what is his name?!"

"Are... are you going to duel him? For besmirching the honor of your queen?"

"Yes. There is no other possible option. There is no chance of sane and rational conversation in this situation. Only bloodshed."

"Then I must take his identity even to the very grave. The very temporary grave. I cannot allow this violence for my sake."

"But I am defending your honor!"

"My honor is beyond repair! You seek only revenge! It can yield no good."

"Your honor," says Edarial fiercely, "is not beyond repair! The only time it is beyond repair is when you've given up. Have you given up, Iobel?"

"On nestbuilding? On the magic of flight? On you? There are so many quests presented to me that I hardly know where prioritization of some of them begins and giving up on others ends!"

"Any! All! They're all interconnected, Iobel, the only answer is for you to make a chart of your priorities!"

"Charts! Charts! Everywhere charts! Where is the romance and the feathers?"

"Would you like me to skip to the romance and the feathers? I am trying to be orderly about this, would you have me careen off to an uncharted situation blind?"

"Blinded by unreasoning affection? I should think that would help considerably. Who can chart the desires of the feathery soul or label the parts of the nest-building impulse within each of us, Edarial? Do birds require compasses to find south? Do they make graphs before doing that weird kissing-like thing with their beaks?"