Promise not to laugh was a rather damning challenge, for once the words were said – and the way she was flushing in premature embarrassment – it was already difficult to keep a straight face.

All the same, Elias tried his level best, but very soon he was – silently – chuckling, his face creased in delight and shoulders hunching from trying to stop himself letting the laugh out. The look, and the downside of an injury, reined him in enough that he would bite his lip to regain his composure, and by the time Miss Potts had finished her story Elias felt sure he was performing an admirable impression of someone entirely sympathetic, and no-more-than-appropriately-amused.

He sighed, though. “Oh, but it’s a pity you still don’t,” he protested – gently, though, with no real force in it. A shame she couldn’t see some of the sights that were best from the air – whether it was other people’s gardens, or things further afield. “There’s just something about seeing the forest canopies from above –” Elias said, moving a hand as if he could describe the landscapes from above, and then he grinned at her, innocently. “Though I suppose upside-down in a tree would be a remarkable view too.”

He raised his hands in hasty surrender to acknowledge that he had had his own fair share of flying mishaps, so could hardly talk. “Still, you ought to have your sister coach you. That is – you are well again, I hope?” Miss Potts hadn’t explained what the matter had been in their letters, but something or other about her health had seemed amiss, and he wasn’t going to joke about overcoming old fears if she already had serious problems on her plate to be getting on with.

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