The look on Feather's face was one that would have made a dead man smile, so puzzled and turned about in thought as she pondered what her new mistress had just said. The words seemed to be working their way through to her brainpan. They were having a hard job of it, however. "Master Vinegar?" she finally half whispered to Kijani. "Well, that's even sillier! Why would [i]he[/i] swive [i]me[/i]? We're not even married!" There followed a girlish giggle. "Besides, he's so [i]old[/i], Mistress! Why, I've barely seen seventeen harvests, and he must have seen at least twenty five! Maybe even thirty! It would be like swiving with me Da!" That there remained a solid three decades or more between her father and Victor appeared to be a trivial gap compared to the different between her and the lame soldier.

Feather sighed wistfully. "Not like the miller's son, Stone. He says the nicest things to me and brings me presents, Mistress!" She giggled again. "And when he kissed me-"

Her new servant was interrupted as Victor entered his own home, stumping along towards the far side of the house where his bed lay hidden by the hearth. "I'm off to bed, Mistress Kijani. I like to rise early." He waved vaguely towards the pot where the stew bubbled and popped, filling the room with the scent of peppered meat and onions in thick gravy. "Bread box is on the table by the bowls."

Vincent paused, sure he should say something more to her but having little idea as to what. His tongue seemed frozen even as his thoughts tumbled about disorderly, the discomfort of having someone else beneath his roof in close agreement with his distaste for anything or anyone that came from Verrun and yet clashing with the desire to be a good host, the knowledge of what it was to be the outsider and the damage a beautiful face could cause. Leaning on his cane, he teetered there just staring at Kijani and Feather. Finally, Vincent just nodded curtly and limped around the hearth. Finding his bed, he shucked off his boots and socks to ease his sore leg up onto the blankets, followed by the rest of his body. He would undress later, when they were upstairs. For now, Victor just wanted to close his eyes and relax in the dimness of the shadows.