“I apologize about the bed,” Siegfried continues apace. “I will go to the carpenter in the morning and have him make a real one. All of this is a lot of additional work for me, you know. And money. You have caused me great trouble, great trouble...” He rubs his eyes, groans into his hands. “I know not what it is like to live with a servant. Faramund has a girl come down from the castle in the morning and evening with whatever he needs, but to live with one feels decadent and I am a simple man. I like my privacy. There is not enough privacy in the world.”

He seems incapable of stillness, squirms a bit when speaking, beats his knees like the wings of a butterfly. He pauses, awaiting an answer, toys once more with the clasp of his mantle.

“My, you must really be terrified. Or perhaps you aren’t. You have a stupid bravery. Even I am a little afraid of you. I shall sleep with my sword in my bed tonight, that much is certain. Were you a man you’d be the stuff of legend, what with your little burning. But no one cares much about a woman.”