She nodded, taking a long draught of her own wine to hide the darker thought that sprang into her mind: keep you going, aye, until good meetings turn into sorrowful partings. But that was a passing thought, no more. Death was nothing here. Had she not been told as much?

"I still feel ridiculous," she said instead, shaking her head. "The denizens of this place have a queer sense of what passes for beauty."