Miranda shrugged. "Normally, no," she said. "But we have little else to do as the weeks go by. Be kind of awkward if we suffered in silence the whole time."

Said silence was broken by what sounded like chatter. Up ahead, a group of nights were clustered on the road, looking to be dividing up something between them. One saw their horse approach, and told the other to put the bag away.

"Er," Miranda tried. "I don't suppose those were your friends...are they?"

"My lord," one of them said, trying on a smile. "You're alive...we feared the worst when we dropped you at the shady healer."