"Oh, no ma'am," Lucien replied with a diffident bow of his head. One never did know when the people one met in a magical glen were after all queens and princess and scions of greatness his own language could not touch. "My Papa is just over by the brook and my... well, she's sort of mine. I have an Aethie too and she's around."

And on another more ordinary day, he might have left it at that. But, today, he smiled and he asked. "And you?"