Ithacles yawned through his small laugh and ended with a smile. There was some black humor. There wasn't anything fun about winter in Faustben, even if you had a roof and a fire. The refugee village that had cluttered the lawns when he'd first met Vedette was gone now. They'd been relocated, homes built, food supplies stabilized. But still, it was the very definition of inhospitable outside.
"Yeah, would you believe it, not one of my invitations returned. Looks like you're my only friend, Uthral."
He smirked and watched the fire.
"Ouch," he said to himself. And then pulled his feet back from the steel grate of the enormous hearth. Feeling had returned to the tired soles.