"I have been bereft of romance, female or otherwise, I'm agrieved to admit." Her agreement with a certain fairy queen made sure of that. She had been afforded little more than the odd stolen moment of passion with a stranger here and there. "No. I did run away. But off to adventure rather than some world-weary beau. If my life were to be written, I should prefer it to be an adventure book."

But one of Joan's words stuck an interesting chord and she bit the inside of her cheek while she considered it. "Could you indulge me for a moment? I don't know what that other word meant; feminist. Something relayed to women?"