Severa laughs and decides to take a drink after all. "I don't think he wanted to freelance much longer anyway. It was hard to find enough work to keep up with me. I have very expensive tastes," she adds, mostly as a joke, even if it is entirely true.

"I didn't expect you to be so similar to my dad when we first met, to be entirely honest." Perhaps that mead she quaffed has begun to loosen her tongue, if nothing else. "You seemed far closer to my mother." She doesn't bother hiding an unfortunate scowl.