The potion. Right, they were back to where they'd been a moment ago, back to where Ford had expected this conversation to go. On the one hand he was relieved, because he didn't know what to say about Noble's girl and just thinking about things he could have said made him feel terribly awkward. On the other hand, he didn't want to rush past it too quickly and give Noble the impression that he didn't want to talk about it (although he didn't), or that they couldn't talk about it, if something happened in the future and Noble needed Ford to help with something, or even just listen. This felt like too quick of a transition away from the subject, since Ford was still trying to wrap his mind around it, still reeling internally from the initial revelation, but he didn't know what else to say about it. It's probably for the best came to mind, but if Noble had ended it a year ago he already knew that, and it would do neither of them any good to say it. And it wouldn't make it any easier to see her around town, Ford didn't think. Not that he had any first hand experience with this sort of thing. He’d so far avoided seeing Dorian Fisk at all since their moments together, but Ford knew he'd have to see him sooner or later given the proximity of their workplaces and overlapping social spheres. Whenever he did, he doubted it was going to be terrible, to borrow Noble's word. There was a world of difference between a boy you'd kissed once and a girl you were going to marry (or thought you were going to marry, anyway).

There was maybe some solace for Ford (none for Noble) in his brother's earlier statement: it probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. People didn't tend to get married at twenty-two, and there were reasons for that that went beyond just finances, so maybe this wasn't destined to actually happen, anyway. That would be no comfort to Noble, if he still felt miserable about her, but a good deal of comfort to Ford. It was easier to live with the idea that telling Noble about everything after Papa died had only put an end to a childish crush that should have been ending soon anyway than it was to stomach the notion that this had really been the girl Noble was going to marry and it was Ford's fault she was inaccessible now. But — a year ago for Noble and four years ago for Cash were more or less the same moment in life, and Cash had been in love then. He'd been so in love that losing them had opened up a hole in the middle of his chest that nothing else could fill. So it wasn't necessarily a given, that this had been childish and foolish and Noble would eventually recover from it with only the passage of time to help him through.

Which brought them back to doing reckless things with potions.

"You can test things on me," Ford said, his tone stronger than it had been for several minutes now as they'd meandered through girl talk. "It's your work and if you think it makes more sense to test things than to replace them then — alright, fine, okay. But if there's a chance it could make someone pass out then giving it to the one person in this house who knows how to brew an awakening potion is stupid," he pointed out. "I'm not going to try and tell you what to do with your potions again, but... let me help."