Someday, she'll ditch her bodyguard and travel solely with Johnny. On that day, she's certain she and Cynric will start to get along much better. It's all a slow, calculated dance of trying to get Julien to stop insisting she needs protection and go home to his own family.

But, well. Ayleth could speak to the fact that the children of witches tended to be just a little tetchy about their families of origin.

Thankfully, intimate friendship with Cynric isn't necessary for small talk. Years of talking to other people who never went on adventures was all the was necessary for small talk. Look how naturally her smile can be snapped into place. "It's lovely. We've had quite a good rash of rainy seasons, so the exports industry has been expanding beyond the copper-ware. It's really one of the more prosperous abbeys in the chain of valleys these days. Have you ever been?"