Hephaestus didn't know what was going through Allegra's head. He never did. In turn, she was known to be agog at some of his decisions, and a long time ago they had basically agreed to be baffled by one another often and with verve. By and large, the arrangement worked out pretty well.
Which didn't mean he worried any less. There were some people who not talking worked for, and there were some who it ate up from the inside out. Hephaestus had a good working knowledge of Allegra's insides; when she did this, all this? He couldn't help the concern.
"This isn't Manhattan," he shot back, peering down at her in a show of wry amusement. The smith was covered in stone dust, which gave him the appearance of going gray and had made itself at home in the cracks along his palms. He smelled of fire, beneath it an acrid tang that said he'd been working metal recently.
"And I'm not a gardener. Things grow here..." True to a point. The front of the house was lined with plants more useful than attractive. Most of the trees were ones which moved onto the property before he did, however, and while he liked the idea of not having to leave home for food, the reality was that his mind was usually too busy elsewhere to think about tending to living things. Besides, the fewer flammable objects near the forge, the better.
Allegra had taught him that lesson quite quickly.
"Just no gardens. You could always plant one." It wasn't a serious suggestion. She would need to stay still for that. Hephaestus knew better. It was just talk.
But not the right kind.
He leaned against the forge's doorway, wanting little more than to sit in the scrubby grass beside Allegra and knowing full well that he'd never get back up again if he even tried. A baker's dozen of questions sprang to mind, not one of them Hephaestus was willing to ask. Allegra was like a cornered cat -- come in too close, too fast, and she would hiss and spit and you'd be left with nothing but claw marks.
Patience was key. Or a large net. Years later and he still hadn't made up his mind on that one.