Merlin inclined his head to her. "We are very old, you and I. It is easy to drop off the map for a decade, and come back to find everything changed. You weren't even gone that long. I know you worry, but you know the best remedy for being down in the dumps." The bird did a little dance on the table, peeping happily, and then did a most ridiculous pratfall somersault, and tiny yellow birds spun around its dizzy head. "Make 'em laugh!"