She will not let herself be so rapt as to forget her way, and of course if he is going to hold so close-- closer than he ought to, she thinks, but there is no one here to cluck his tongue at them, no Roshka to worry, no Oriencor to sneer-- then she would look as much a fool as he.

"I had heard it was difficult, to draw her attention from her work," she says, honestly surprised. There are those who say Oriencor's devotion borders on madness (though Aeriel is not so naive that she believes there is no stripe of jealousy in those accusations). But she would not have guessed that Oriencor cannot keep herself from Irrylath, that his beauty would be such a lure. For all that Aeriel has stumbled under his gaze, it is only in idleness. When she works, all of her is at work.

"When you wait, is that truly a banishment or is it a siege upon her?"