Her gaze moved over the scene of the two of them beside the hearth, the child dozing on Hal’s chest. She had said very little all evening, yet her silence never felt rude. Now she murmured good eve to them and inclined her head toward the rear door as though asking where it led and if she might go through it.

“The yard is empty,” said Hal, understanding her easily. “It is only bare dirt, but enough space to train the hawks to lure. You are welcome to exercise your dog there, so long as he leaves no foulness behind as token.”

She nodded, and beckoned the dog to follow her as she walked to the door. She held a lamp, and the light glanced off the blades that were now strapped to her forearm again. Gryff wondered if she did not trust this house, or him, or if it was only that it was a new and strange place and she felt better to be armed.

After she had gone through the door, Hal spoke with a knowing smile in his voice.

“No common lanner, I think.” Hal’s words flooded Gryff with memory, the lost frivolity of their youth. This was how they had used to speak of ladies and maidens, long ago in that other life, comparing their looks and temperaments to birds of prey. “I would say merlin for her size, or haps a hobby for her beauty.”

Gryff looked at the sleeping child in his friend’s arms. It was hard to believe that they had ever been so callous and carefree. “She is neither falcon nor hawk.”

“Oh?” Hal’s brows shot up, and he looked at Gryff with a new interest. “Nor is my wife, and she was the first woman of whom I ever said that. It is why I made her my wife.”

It took a moment until Gryff could laugh at the words, and the implication. He did not know how to explain to Hal that this opinion was not born of any special feeling for Nan, but the simple fact of her. Any man who thought he could so easily know her was a fool. She was like the falcon who killed with a glancing force, and also like the hawk who clutched the prey close to kill it – and yet she was like neither, for she did not seek out quarry nor come to a master’s call. She was sharp-witted and beautiful and deadly and kind, and there was no other creature like her.