Tristan looked at her with a compassionate frown. "I can imagine..." he said. "Had you no friends or relatives that could have taken you in?" He had wondered about that before, but he had felt that it was inappropriate to ask earlier.

"I am sure I could have stayed with my mother's friends but I... I didn't think about it, you know? Just..." She took another large sip, the wine really getting to her head. She continued then, "I didn't think at all, I just went numb and..." Her head tilted forward, "I didn't ask."

Tristan frowned and nodded. "Would it not be a good idea to reach out to them now?" he suggested. "Not to say that you're not a great maid, but it would be a shame to be all alone in the world when you wouldn't need to be, surely..."

"I am not sure I am ready to go back..." she said honestly. "And I am not alone, you're here." Shit, did she just say that? She took another sip to fortify herself. Her tongue was getting looser by the moment and Tristan hadn't helped with that at all, pouring her another glass of wine like that. Even now, she wanted to giggle.

Oh. "Well... yes, I am. But that's not like family..." he said, a little confused. Was she becoming too dependent on him? It was not uncommon in grief, especially at such a young age. He should be careful, Tristan realized. He took a large sip of his wine.

"No, but..." she sighed... "I am not ready to face them yet." She sighed and cradled the glass in her hand, and then her eyes squinted just a little. Was he... analyzing her? She tilted her head and pressed her lips together. He was, wasn't he? She took a rather large gulp of wine. It didn't take long for her to feel tipsy even, and she leaned forward and said, "What about you?"

Tristan was about to ask why she felt she wasn't ready to face them, when Pippa turned the conversation back to him.

Wait. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

It took him a few seconds to recover and realize that he was in a normal conversation, not talking to a patient. "Me? Oh... well, my family is alive. Well, my mother and siblings are. They're up in Newcastle."

There. He was able to have a normal conversation. The asylum hadn't taken all the humanity out of him yet, or so he liked to believe.

"But aren't you lonely too?" She asked, her voice huskier. She heard herself and panicked a little, not having meant to sound like that. Why was she still drinking? She wondered this even as she sipped more liberally of the alcohol.

Tristan had just taken a sip of wine to celebrate his good social skills, when Pippa spoke again and he just barely managed to keep himself from coughing. He swallowed. What? "I... errr..." Certainly he was lonely, but he would hardly admit that to himself and he wasn't about to admit that to his servant, especially one that spoke to him in this manner. He frowned. "I've always been busy with work." He quickly drank some of his wine, suddenly eager to draw this meeting to a close.

She was feeling chagrined right then. She had never talked so boldly before... But he had filled her glass again and she was loathed to waste wine when it could be quite pricey. "I am sorry, I don't know where that... that came from?" she mumbled and ducked her head. But she couldn't help herself, the wine was doing something to her head and she was... Goodness, she was so flushed.