It was dizzying for Hild to think that Spencer and Luke had come to this place. Only a year ago, the pair of them had been discussing his feelings for Luke over coffee and, a short time later, had been discussing Spencer's reveal of those feelings to Luke.

Engagements were matters of politics back in Hild's time and place, arranged according to alliances of power, military and financial. There was no romance to them, no true feelings. Girls of Hild's caste only hoped to be wed to warriors, brave and strong and fierce. Men who could protect them, not necessarily love them. When the deal was struck, the engagement only lasted until a fortuitous time for a wedding. Hereswith's engagement had only lasted long enough for her to arrive at the castle of her betrothed. Hild had not seen it, the ceremony or the arrival, but she knew that Hereswith had only just seen her future husband's face within days of being bonded together.

And then here was Spencer and Luke, so caught up in their love for one another, so well wrapped up in the warmth and certainty of their feelings that within the turn of the year they had pledged their troth. Hild was not sure if she envied them or was, in a small way, confused by a quality of emotion she had yet to feel.

"Not so long ago, you were so uncertain," Hild pointed out with a warm, teasing smile. "And now you have plans not only for a wedding but for a whole life together." Despite her own personal confusion, she could not be happier for them. The rightness of the match shone in their every word and deed.

"I could never get sick of you," she argued, taking a sip from her cup. "You did not get sick of me when I bothered you for a translation of every other word and phrase. Learning takes forever. Your wedding plans will only last until the wedding. Then we will all feel relief."