"Okay. I - think that I probably need some time - more than two minutes, anyway - but I am not sure if that's the only thing I need. I'm honestly having trouble thinking about exactly what those things are, here - "

She should take a moment to think about that. She's - well, she's scared of what the outcome is going to be, but really even more scared that seeing them having a conversation with her will make it obvious that they know how to talk to one another and she doesn't - not that this wasn't already obvious from the last conversation the three of them had together, even if that one probably shouldn't count -

" - maybe I could use a list of things we're going to need to talk about."

"The children. Who we're going to tell what's really happening, and what we're going to tell everyone else. The hospitals and the healing circuit – actually, before that, you should try to prepare spells and see what abilities you have. 

...That said, taking a few minutes before we try to put our lives back in order might not be the worst idea."

"...yeah." Deep breath.

"We shouldn't figure out everyone we're going to tell and everything we're going to tell them until we know more. Plausibly until we've - how many days has it been?"

"Day and a half, outside"

At least he didn't keep her booked for any significant time longer than he needed to, then; part of her unclenches a little at that. "Plausibly until we've handled the lich and whatever his plan was, assuming you haven't had a chance to yet. I don't want any large group of people knowing about this until it's no longer a vulnerability. But I should talk with the party and with her before that."

"We haven't dealt with the lich – it didn't seem like a priority until you showed up. 

Do you think you're ready to talk to her?"

It has always been the right decision to talk to Elie about her feelings before. It has taken a while to stop hurting, sometimes, but it has always worked out in the end. Although, technically, she does think she made the right decision in avoiding talking to him about her feelings until she was sure that she wanted to marry him and not resurrect her late husband, but that was only because she didn't know what she actually wanted, then -

- and she doesn't know exactly what she wants now. But whatever it is certainly involves Elie liking her, and the main reason talking to him wasn't a good idea the one time it ever wasn't was because she didn't know whether she wanted him to see her as someone who might be a wife to him at all. She's pretty sure that consideration no longer applies.

"I am noticing myself feeling enormously tempted to stop talking to you about how I feel until I've figured out what I want to happen, but intellectually I expect that that would almost certainly be counterproductive for getting any of what I expect that is.

I'm - scared of her."

"I'm very glad you told me instead of doing that. – She said the same thing." 

She makes a ridiculous sound that cannot quite decide whether it's a laugh or a sob. "See, on the one hand that makes me feel better, because if we come up with the same ideas and responses to things then maybe I can trust her to reliably behave in ways I think are reasonable - and maybe I don't have to worry about actually being worse than her, given that she's the one who actually did almost every tremendously good thing that I've done and it's occurred to me in the last minute to wonder whether I would have handled everything as well as she did if I were the one here and not her -

"- and on the other hand it makes me feel worse, because, if she's thinking the same things that I'm thinking then she's scared of me, too, and I do not have an enormously good track record of being kind and reasonable to people I'm scared of, it's just been... four years... since this has especially come up."

"You've grown a lot in the last four years, and not only in power. I know what you're going to say: she has. But I've read the book, Naima – every thought, every memory she has, it's there. In some ways this would be easier if you were more different, but you're not." 

Nod.

"I can probably manage to be civil. I should prepare spells and get some basic items and.... wear something that wasn't selected by a lich, probably, if I want to give myself every advantage at being reasonable."

"Do you want to wait here while I fetch some items and some clothes and Wishbone?"

"Wishbone should stay on the healing circuit until the end of the day, I think. I don't want to tip people off that something has happened. But I can wait for items and clothes, yeah."

That's a relief. He wasn't looking forward to telling Naima – other Naima – argh – that he needed to take her dog. 

"Done." 

It'll take him about ten sidereal minutes to gather everything and come back. 

She'll wait, and change into something that makes her feel somewhat more like herself, and then come right back to him for another hug.

"Thank you. Do you need anything, right now?"

"No." 

Wants, yes, but that's a different story. 

"You're sure? This must be - destabilizing." And she's realizing now that she doesn't actually know what to do with herself until the other gets back. She's not used to having large stretches of unscheduled time. Normally she would spend any she did come across with her husband or her children or the pile of de-prioritized papers at her desk, but every action she can think of seems fraught, right now.

"I think you're dealing with enough yourself just now." 

"All right." She's not really sure that there's much she can do to deal with it at the moment, but - "I suppose we should head home and give time a chance to pass, then."

"Diobel or – I thought Isarn. I'd like to avoid having to explain anything to the children until we've all gotten our story straight." 

"...right. That's - sensible." It's not very productive to let it sting, is it. "Isarn is fine."