"I don't," she agrees and it has a note of challenge to it as she peers at him over the edge of her mug. She is uncertain why she feels the need to defend herself, why that statement has raised her hackles, and that uncertainty just feeds that small note of irritation.

"They're fine enough," she adds before he can speak again. "But I don't care for crowds."

That is a lie and a bold-faced one. She has come from a place with a much greater population that this sleepy village. She thrived there and had loved conversing on the street, arguing and chatting with people...but that was in Haugenne. This is not Haugenne and people in Maireglene are not quite as open and boisterous.

She doesn't know how to speak to these people, so she has opted to avoid it when she can.

"Between you and that young mad, I've quite enough friends I think."