Hagumi had turned at the sound of Torva’s words, looking at him with such a profoundly sad expression one would have thought she had just lost a loved one. “I’m sorry,” she replied softly, patting the bed next to her. After Torva had sat down, Hagumi took a deep breath, licked her thin pink lips and then sighed again, heavily. “The truth is, I like my life here,” she whispered, clasping and unclasping her hands. “I like the city, the people... well most of them. I like home, and all the nice things I have. The good food, the nice clothes… I almost even like my tutors... almost.”

Hagumi paused then and turned to look at Torva, staring deeply into his eyes, her own ice blue ones brimming with tears. “But I like you too, I love you… I like being with you, I have, even though it’s been so rough at times, even though we’ve almost met death over and over. I want to stay with you, or have you stay with me… but well…. You see how my parents, and others have reacted.” Hagumi bowed her head and stared at her lap fixedly as her shoulders rose and fell sharply. “I don’t know if I could make it out there, Torva. I’m so used to this… a pampered life. I’m a spoiled princess in the end, and I don’t know if I could make it out there. I can’t sew, I can’t cook. I’ve never so much as claned dishes or clothes.” Laughing softly, she murmured, “I can fix my hair and nails at least.”

“I want the world to be like I see it in my mind… like I want to make it,” Hagumi explained sharply, standing suddenly and walking across her room to the windows. “I believe I can do more good here, but then, then maybe I can do good elsewhere. I wasn’t to keep you by my side, but to do that, I have too leave everything I know behind. I won’t be able to come back, this I know. You saw how my father acted… If there were just more like my mother…” Hagumi’s trembling voice trailed away as she looked out over the moon kissed city, gleaming softly in the faint, pale white light of the moon. “What would you do, Torva? What would you do in my place?”