It makes me miss my family, she says. Encantador nods solemnly, his brown eyes gleaming with sympathy. He has no idea where Sylvia’s family is, or what happened to them; likely as not, hers had suffered a similar fate to his. Dead or simply gone, he thinks, biting his lip. He knows more likely than not how visiting the harbor would reawaken similar unpleasant emotions for him – precisely why he had politely declined Sylvia’s invitation all that time ago. She is brave to come back here. Braver than me.

But he dares not tell her so.

Instead he blinks placidly, a bit confused, when she confirms his suspicions. For now. Those words reverberate in his brain over and over until he feels as if he might go mad. He’s thankful when she changes the subject; in fact, he bursts into laughter. “I was just thinking the same thing,” he admits, before shifting his weight and averting his gaze to trace the outline of the pool which lies just feet away. He can see both his own and Sylvia’s reflection in the water; yet again, she reminds him of his father and of the past. This could get uncomfortable.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what do you mean by… ‘for now’? Has something happened at the harbor?” His feelings are mixed as he utters these words, and his lips twist in an unconscious display of his uncertainty. Should I be jumping for joy? Somehow I doubt it would be appropriate.