"Twenty minutes is fast for plate mail," he said with mock defensiveness. The twinkle in his eyes gave him away. "If you just lean back and let me do all the work, it won't be much longer than that." His smile curved a little sly.

"I thought I was fine with what we had eaten on the boat until I started smelling these and handling them. I take back everything I said about them being creepy." He would stand by that until confronted with more live ones clicking and hissing water bubbles at him.

He had the decency to look away, feeling another small stab of guilt. Meredith had believed that the best time to move on Bethany was with Hawke away. If they had timed it a little better, there would have been no confrontation at all. "The Deep Roads is a very dangerous place," he agreed. "I've never been. Maker willing I never will be."

He shook his head, too. "They just showed up at the house one day out of the blue. I could tell by both my parents' reaction it wasn't expected. They sent me out of the house to go visit friends and told me not to come back until somebody came for me. It wasn't until late that night they finally did. My grandparents were still at the house. The tension was...unpleasant, but they were kind enough to me."