"Precisely why I'm so in love with that—" gesturing here towards the ocean at large "—briny hell-bitch, with all her dark secrets. You heard about Reynard dumping us in the sea? Of course you did." Laughing now, he explained, "Once we were all of us not in immediate danger of drowning or being bludgeoned by a seacreature, I had fun aboard that godsdamn wreck. There's something wrong with me, I'm sure." In response to her pinch, he nudged her in the ribs, their shoulders knocking companionably together.

"Speaking of the terrors I inevitably embroil myself with, would you meet Yseult?" he asked, trying to keep his tone light, but meaning it quite seriously.