His arm was still around her as Elan seemed to sink into the sofa as if to escape his thoughts, to vanish into the cushions.

"We are galæ, out of place. This place is not mine, but neither is it wholly yours now. Over silent dinners, during boardgames, books with tea, the world has changed, and become something alien and not entirely friendly to us both. We feel it within us, and I especially."

There was a hollowness to Elan, he felt. A hole that he could not fill, a world that was not his own, and simply bearing it was all that was in his power.