"No," he protests softly, reaching up to touch her face in turn, a mirror of each other. "It's not unfair at all. How can we plan for a future if we do not face what it will look like?"

It's no more than he's asked her to consider, knowing what it would mean to be queen and Allmother. It's just as much that he consider what his days will be beyond her life, what it will mean to all those left behind, not just himself.

"If only my dreams would tell me of brighter days," he adds with a small smile, a gentle jest to lift the mood, though not an untruthful one. "But I suppose I will have to wait to experience them day by day as I live them, together with you. That alone will be a treasure worth cherishing."