"We'll keep a watch," Alain affirms, quiet and steady. They're all being so kind, Susan thinks, and as she does she has to fight back exhausted tears, for oh, she kens why, and she can't bear to see what their concern for her is doing to them.

"Aye," she says, after a second to gather herself. Help me, da', to be as strong as needs must. Susan looks around at them, her smile carefully fixed. "Ye will, I kennit."

She starts to sit up, bracing herself with her hand against the couch. "My wits have gone wandering, and mayhap I'd best follow them," she says, trying to make light of it. "I'll give ye good-even, and wish ye long days and pleasant nights."