"Ah, it's nothing deeply personal." She returned the smile. "It's simply that what records survived say that the elves came to our world several thousand years ago, but nothing specifies why. It's possible that something similar may be the case, which would explain a great deal."

She simply hadn't assumed that the stranger would be interested in the vagaries of her world's history.

"Nothing at all?" Raine seemed more bemused by that than anything else he'd presented, and she shook her head. "Over so many planets? That seems improbable, though I suppose no more so than a world without magic."