I did not need to be told who he was. I blinked at him, wide-eyed, star-struck. I looked away quickly when I remembered what I knew about him and blushed a terrible red when I remembered the things I had said in this man’s own house. I could not find any words to say to him. I tried to; my mouth opened and closed. My brows furrowed together, but I could not get a single word out. My mind had gone blank.

“He’s with his da,” Liro said. The formality of Semadran when he spoke it seemed an odd fit. I managed a nod. I stood there, rooted in place, but I couldn’t have said why. After a second, Liro invited me in. I managed to decline in some approximation of politeness. I had half-turned when he invited me in a second time. “Come in. Get your bearings back,” he said. “It might make some sense for you and I to talk.”

He held the door open for me. He seemed exhausted, a little withdrawn, but he hardly seemed angry. I felt it would be rude not to go in. I kept my eyes pinned to the floor and followed him inside. He asked me if I wanted anything, tea or food or water. I shook my head. Then, he asked me if I wanted any pipeherb. My face jerked up. He laughed at my expression. He had a warm, slightly caustic laugh. “I don’t mean to lead you astray, but sometimes it helps me gather myself when I’m nervous. You seem nervous.”

I was nervous, but it struck me as irresponsible. “No, thank you.”

“Suit yourself.” He sat down on a couch and watched me expectantly until I sat down on the couch across from him. On the wall behind him hung portraits of Dirva as a young man. In the portraits, he read and wrote, lost in a private world. The questions about their shared past, and all that it entailed, came back to me unbidden. I pulled my eyes away from them and glanced at the table between us, but it was no safer. A sketchbook was open to a rough portrait of a shirtless man who could only have been my mentor. I resorted to staring at my hands. “Given what you said when you were here last, and given the way you’re acting now, I am going to guess you know about him and me.”

“I…yes. Sorcha told me.”

“The two of you are on speaking terms?”

“Yes.”