"Oh. Are animals good company?"

"I guess they must be. The magician who captured me didn't have a pet."

"How did you get away?"

"I convinced him I wasn't going to try to escape so he wouldn't be as careful about making sure I couldn't."

"But then you did escape."

"Yeah."

"When was that?"

"It was four months ago."

"Nobody has found you, I guess you picked a good place to hide."

"We-ell...nobody knows to look for me. The only one who knew he had me was him, and...I didn't really leave him in a condition to follow."

Water finishes her food. "What do you mean?"

"He tried to stop me. I hurt him. Badly. I don't know if he's still alive or not."

"Oh."

She shrugs uncomfortably.

"If he's alive, the book said magicians can heal."

"Yeah. I don't know if he has enough power to heal himself, though, without me."

"And if he's dead he can't do anything."

"Yeah."

"You look upset."

"...I don't like thinking about him very much."

"Oh."

"He was very not nice to me."

Nod.

Shrug.

"Anyway. I don't think I'll ever see him again, and that's what matters."

Nod nod. "Do other spirits never run away with their babies and raise them to be nice?"