For the first few steps, his legs felt shaky, but then firmed. He could think of nothing to say at first; he put an arm around Aliam's shoulders. "I seem to have made a mess of your house," he said after a long silence.
Aliam prodded him in the ribs, as of old. "You seem to have saved our lives, you mean. Don't try to play humble, my liege." And into Kieri's ear. "I can't call you Kieri with her around; she'd skin me and eat me."
"I don't eat humans," his grandmother said austerely, without looking at either of them. "No elf would touch man-meat. Call him Kieri if you wish; I do."
