It doesn't matter that it looks so difficult, that it's something so very small compared to the way she's used to him smiling, used to the sound of his laughter. Even that painful tilt upwards feels like the sun coming out and for the first time since his return something like hope blooms in her chest.

It has nothing to do with her, or the relationship they had before he left. That hope is for him, that someday, with time, those smiles will come more easily.

None of that shows on her face in more than the way she seems to go a little lighter in turn, relax with him a little more, and her movements as she moves her staff around her body become more fluid.

"So all my secrets are safe, then. The rest of my life you'll be the only one who knows I eat horse treats instead of actually giving them out."