Thanks, hon. 'Settled' is a perfect word.

I firmly believe that shared experiences involving deep emotion or trauma bring people together and 'mature' them faster than every day events. After losing people you loved/hated/knew on either or both sides of a conflict, almost losing your own life, and watching pain and suffering all around you has a way of bringing into focus how petty little things like house rivalries really are. Shared pain/anguish/joy bonds people, whether they're consciously aware of it or not.

Whew! I rambled on a bit there, didn't I?

Thanks, hon. :)