And the heart rose in his breast and fluttered therein, so sore he yearned toward the Daughter of the Rose, and his very speech-friend.

Then he heard the Erne saying, "How now, Raven-son, wilt thou have the throne and the sitter therein, or wilt thou gainsay me once more ?" Thereafter he himself spake, and the sound of his voice was strange to him and as if he knew it not: "Chieftain, I will not gainsay thee, but will take thy gift, and thy friendship therewith, whatsoever hath betided.

Yet would I say a word or two unto the woman that sitteth yonder.

For I have been straying amongst wiles and images, and mayhappen I shall yet find this to be but a dream of the night, or a beguilement of the day." Therewith he arose from the table, and walked slowly down the hall; but it was a near thing that he did not fall a-weeping before all those aliens, so full his heart was.
He came and stood before the Hostage, and their eyes were upon each other, and for a little while they had no words.

Then Hallblithe began, wondering at his voice as he spake: "Art thou a woman and my speech-friend?
For many images have mocked me, and I have been encompassed with lies, and led astray by behests that have not been fulfilled.