"We'll stay here overnight," he said with a tiny smile of hope - she was so sweet, so understanding, and it heartened him. He'd missed her so much, that every movement she made, every syllable she spoke made him remember in vivid detail why he'd loved her so deeply.
"It's dangerous to start out this late, and the cabin is plenty warm. I've never been this far away from home before. I don't believe I could simply pop us back home. We might wind up in the middle of the Great Desert if I tried, and that could potentially be even worse than here! Magic doesn't work as well in the desert, you see," he said as he fidgeted with the cuff of his shirt sleeve, "The desert is so dead to magic and life that even the heartiest of scrub weeds won't grow there. It's said that all life once came from the heart of the desert, and that it was once plentiful and vibrant, verdant and lush as the land of the dryads," he realized he was jabbering, but at least it was interesting jabber. It kept him from thinking about how sad it was that she didn't know who he was. "But that after the last Great Conjunction, it became a wasteland. Nobody knows what happened, it was before all known history." He shook his head. "But I digress. We'll set off tomorrow morning, and from the wild lands, we'll pop back to the edge of the Goblin Kingdom, and make our way home. Until then, I've got stew on." He quite forgot about the kettle and chuckled. "I'll put the kettle back on, and make us some tea, how's that sound?"