He remained silent for a long while, his jaw working as he turned her words over in his mind. It was something he might have said - something he often said in the aftermath of a fight. And it was always true. It hung in the air like a question, however, whether she meant it that way or not.

We will find our footing again if. If he didn't leave. If he decided Lily was not something he needed any longer.

Then, too, there was the suggestion that she had realized things hadn't been quite as good with them when he had been spirited away from the Barge. His attitude toward her since his return to Baedal had given her little confidence, he supposed.

Time to come to a decision: be here completely or go find whatever remains with Lily. He mulled it over, considering several things which seemed so insignificant and yet - so immensely important. The way Martha's pillow smelled. Her rubbish cooking. The secrets he had told only to her. The towels she left on the floor of the bathroom. How she set her alarm clock an hour early just to be with him each morning.

"I'm still quite happy. Aren't you?" he asked finally. And that seemed to settle things. At least, it left him with a feeling of relief: a decision had been made. Not going. It wasn't a smart gamble to make.