“They are fed, as you know, and all have had baths, as you also know. Faunus has managed to get them clean nightgowns, and you know this too, as you are right now wearing one. And with the bag of coin he laid on their desk, the innkeeper’s wife is searching for clean, warm gowns and cloaks for all of you for our journey tomorrow, and my guess, to get that coin, she will find them. They are settled in, they know the Firenz guard this inn, and they might not be fully restored, but they are in decent spirits.”

She seemed to deflate after he reported this, and he remembered why he liked her so.

She was stubborn but she was also strong and most of all, she was caring.

During their journey, in the night, exhausted from walking, the women had slept as best they could, pressed together for warmth under the stars.

Not he and Moira. They took turns staying awake and keeping watch.

And it was she who should have had the last piece of ham.

But she gave it to Terra, who was the slimmest, and seemed to get slimmer by the day, thus Moira declared, needed the sustenance more than she.

Yes, she was stubborn.

But mostly, she was kind.

“We will request they get word to your families,” he said carefully.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Moira—”

“Is he your lover?”

Teddy suddenly felt a sickness in his stomach.

But he lifted his chin and said, “Yes.”

“He is very tall, and he is very muscled,” she decreed, rather than turning snide or looking repulsed.

“Um…yes,” he agreed to her obvious assessment.

“And exceptionally handsome, in a Firenz way.”

He was that.

“Moira—”

She gave a terse nod. “He cares deeply for you. You are his love. We can trust him. Trust them.”

Teddy wasn’t sure he was Faunus’s love.

But yes, they could trust him. And them.

And he could not quite put his finger on understanding the feeling he was feeling at her reaction to discovering who Teddy was, or rather, how he was.

He did not mention that.

“Of course you can trust him. And all of them. I would not lead you astray.” He then took her jaw in both hands and dipped his face to hers. “And as such, I am sure I can speak to Faunus. He will give you and the others a guard. Keep you safe as they take you home.”

“What did you see back in that clearing after we ran away, Teddy?”

Her stubbornness was an obstacle to much.

Her intelligence was just plain annoying.

He dropped his hands, but she caught both of them and shook them.

“What did you see?” she pressed.

“Poppet—”

“All right, you don’t wish to tell me that. But tell me this. We are safer with you and your warriors, whatever you saw, are we not?”

No one was safe.