"You said it's not about being able to tell her what to do, so what is it about?"

He sighs.

"It's about... having her. And you're not wrong that it's an empty kind of having, I know I'm doing myself no favours this way, but it's so close to perfect that I just," he opens his hands, closes them again, "...can't let go."

"Huh," he says thoughtfully.

"I apologize if that's not a satisfying answer."

"It's...illuminating."

He laughs softly. "Is it really?"

"Well, I understand the problem better now than I did five minutes ago, even if I'm not very much closer to finding a solution."

"Let me know if you figure something out," he says wryly.

"Will do," he says, turning to leave and giving a lazy wave. He stops, and says, "by the way--thank you. Very much. For bringing our mother back."

He smiles. "You're welcome."

He smiles and leaves.

Lyrame comes back a few hours later.

By this point the new extension is almost done; he's working on their house, which is set into the southeastern edge of the new part, way out on the corner where there's enough edge available that the basement levels of the house can have windows in three directions. There are also balconies wrapping around the very bottom, and a medium-sized private garden tucked into the cliffside. It's not quite like the model he made for them; he seems to have taken that as a basis and then tweaked it to be less ostentatious but added things like the garden and balconies that are nice to have without being obvious to anyone looking at them from the street.

"It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it!"

He scoops her up and hugs her and puts her down again.

She giggles and hugs him. "I like it when you pick me up like that."

He beams, and scoops her up again, and kisses her nose, and opens the door of her new house to carry her inside.

It is, if anything, even more beautiful on the inside.

"Ooh!"

"I had fun building it."

"I can imagine! It's beautiful."

He smiles adoringly at her.

"Soooo is this set up with who gets which room in mind, or are we going to have to pick when we move in?"

"I made some guesses about what you might like."

"And do the rooms already have beds in them?"

"Yep."

"Good." She kisses him.