“I would not want to do it without you.”

He stands up and picks up the wrapped staff to consider it. Seems a shame to tuck it in a cabinet, but leaving it out where someone might easily wander off with it isn’t good, either.

Idly—and not because he wouldn’t like to ask more about the staff or about Derrica and Colin—he asks, “Have you learned enough Orlesian to know why I call you Fauvette?” He holds up a staying finger. “If you know it means a songbird, you are only halfway there.”