"Then I'm sorry," he says. It sounds sincere, and like it costs him something, a visible shadow of regret that wasn't there before. Tarro reaches over to squeeze his shoulder again.

"--Okay I think I would like the explanation now please."

"...I get keyed up," says Maran, "and I can't settle down again, I just keep getting more and more keyed up until I snap and do something intensely regrettable - intensely regrettable things include 'ran around my house smashing things and ended up burning it to the ground because too many of them were lamps', 'started a bar fight and killed two dozen people', 'beat someone almost to death just because they happened to be standing in front of me when I went mad' - and the list of things that can calm me down before I get that far is very short and everything on it is dangerous to someone. I used to duel a lot." He gestures at his scar. "I noticed it was going to kill me and stopped. Needed something else. Tried - a lot of things - and this is the one that works the best with the least risk of anyone actually dying. It's not a good solution but it's the best I can do short of killing myself for the good of everyone around me and I am not quite that noble."

"Holy fuck that's horrifying."

Maran shrugs slightly and offers a faint, wry smile. "Which part?"

"Which part isn't?"

Snort. "Fair."

"I admit," says Tarro, "the first thing that crossed my mind when you said you're cursed to be raped a lot is 'would you mind coming back—'"

"Anything I consent to doesn't count," she says very carefully.

"But you can loiter in alleys waiting to be accosted," says Tarro, "and be very cooperative once you are. It seems to me you could visit milord and let him drag you off to the back room and it would come out much the same."

"The boys wouldn't be keen," Maran points out dryly.

"The boys don't help enough to be worth it. We managed well enough before them. And—" he looks at Elodea, "I can't help noticing you can currently see - how resilient are you - I would give a lot to be sure we weren't going to risk killing anyone anymore."

"Oh, I'm immortal."

They are both momentarily speechless.

"It's actually part of the same thing as the curse, I--tried to kill myself to get away from him. And he was having none of it."

"I'm sorry," says Tarro. "...but if you could - visit milord instead of loitering in alleys - if it was often enough we wouldn't need anyone else..."

"How often do you do this?"

"Once every week or two, usually," says Maran. "And the more I'm - holding back - the less it works, so every few months I don't hold back at all, and they usually survive but - there is permanent harm done. I would very much like for the girl in the back room to be someone I couldn't permanently harm."

She sighs. 

"I am not doing this every week or two. If you didn't have to hold back at all would longer intervals work?"

"...maybe," says Maran, with a glance at Tarro, who tilts his head slightly and returns him an inscrutable smile. "I could try it. Three weeks, or a month. I don't think I can make it much longer than a month."

"Well. Obviously I'm not agreeing to anything, but I could only cast the stone spell twice today, so your room's gonna be a bit fucked for the time being. I'll be back in three weeks to a month to fix it."

"...all right," says Tarro. "Thank you."

"I can totally get your goons unstuck, just not in a way that leaves the room less fucked up," she clarifies.

Tarro smiles slightly. "Well, thank you for that, too, then."

"I want them scared of me, not gratingly resentful."

"You've definitely succeeded in scaring them," says Tarro.

"Good. --So there are a couple of--not complications exactly, but...things that you should probably know if I'm going to--visit--regularly."

"Go on," says Tarro.