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How rude—there was little need to insult his intelligence or lack thereof. Of course the beast had a point as there must have been something that Ben had missed. Attacking didn't seem right, inaction did not give him anything, and apparently he wasn't bright enough to figure it out intellectually. It was infuriating but he felt genuinely at a loss. What had he missed? If the goal was to humble him than the silly riddle had definitely proven that for all his experience a few sentences stumped him. How embarrassing.  

And of course the beast approached him until Ben felt the coffin at his back. Between a rock and a hard place, indeed. He would have to apologize to his mage for failing the challenge and hope it wouldn't put too much of a dent in their already shaky trust. For shame, he thought they had made better progress than this. Knowing when to fold, however, was just as valued. He hoped he would convince the young girl of this. [color=C0C0C0]"I choose..."[/color] He trailed off, looking back at Lilie.