[center][h3]Juniper Delorano[/h3] [i][sub]"knows a secret."[/sub][/i][/center]
[hr]

Juniper felt a soft sting in the palm of her hand as her fingers locked over the coin that the Crow had shot her. She seemingly hung her head in shame as Nalia snapped at her for her outbursts. Normally, Nalia wouldn’t have given a damn as to how Juniper acted; Juniper wondered if being the Head was already going to hers, although that did not matter now. Her hand was now pressed against her stomach, her other hand clasped over it as if she was afraid the coin would slip through her vice-like grip. Her fingers traced over the cold metal and dragged against the grooves of the coin, but she dared not to look at it. Not yet, at least. From what she could tell, nobody had noticed that something had been passed to her. If they did, then they were keeping quiet about it. 

Juniper was grateful that her sister wasn’t trying to shoo her away, and even more grateful that the Crow had accepted her proposal to speak in private with her and her siblings. She shuffled over to her sister at the older woman’s beck, the coin feeling heavy in her hands as she sidled up behind Nalia. As her brother struggled slightly to stand straight and join his sisters, Juniper took a second to glance at the Crow’s gift while standing in the shadow of her sister. Her fingers unfurled and for the briefest of moments there was a look of befuddlement on her face. There was absolutely nothing special about the coin the Crow had shot her—[i]Is this some kind of joke?[/i]

And then her eyes widened in realization. Her hand clamped shut as she subconsciously stepped even closer to Nalia, practically trying to disappear behind her sister. She felt her tongue tie in her mouth as she glued her eyes to Nalia’s back, trying her hardest to not betray what she had just learned by casting her eyes towards them. The acid in her stomach threatened to escape as she tried to steady her breathing, panic running through her mind as she thought that every movement she made was being closely scrutinized by the guilty party. 

[i]Just don’t look at them,[/i] she thought. [i]You don’t even know that there’s any truth in this, or if they were even apart of it, or if you can even trust the Crow, but just don’t look at them. Breathe. Breathe. No, do it normally. Stop looking towards them. Breathe. Breathe.[/i]

Juniper’s shoulders hunched up with a start at the sound of her name the same way a person would flinch when it looked like they were about to be hit by a ball and then have to go through the motions of playing it off as if they hadn’t just jumped at nothing when it missed them by a mile. It had just been Pieter. Juniper released her breath (and let go of Nalia’s sleeve, which she had apparently latched onto) and gave Pieter a weak smile. If anyone could help her wrap her mind around this, it would be him. However, it would have to be later, after they had spoken in private with the Crow. 

“Nalia wants me to go with her,” said Juniper after a second of trying to find her words, although perhaps it would’ve been more accurate for the girl to say that Nalia was [i]letting[/i] Juniper go with her. However, if her eyes could speak they would be telling Pieter to fight off the weariness from the wine and wait up for her. She would come find him the moment she could.