This minor show of outrage only manages to be endearing. (Ellis is adept at distinguishing a show of temper from the real thing.) The smile that comes is muted, quieted due to proximity of her departure, but present.

Between them, aware of the shift in conversation topic, Ruadh huffs and butts his head against Wysteria's hip. Leans all his weight against her thigh, licking his chops. Ellis resists the urge to kneel down to him.

"He'll help you," is what he says instead, which Ellis clearly feels is a reassuring statement. "He'll need chicken livers. Fish will do, on the voyage. Bones to gnaw on in the evenings. He likes an egg, from time to time."

A refined palate.

"And he'll like to accompany you, wherever you're going."

Which is perhaps the biggest imposition.