Fengye mulled the tea in her hands.

Her life was her own? What an unusual thing to say. It was so self evidently wrong on so many levels that it did not even merit much thought. She held up the thought delicately, and then folded it and set it aside in her mind. No, her life had been set for her by the Exam. Before the Exam, she had lived in studious service to it. After the Exam, she had been defined by its results. In fact, the only time she had stepped from the path of the Exam it was to subordinate herself to an even higher bureaucracy. 

(That, too, was self evidently wrong. But the true scholar does not correct the mistaken - that might cause a loss of face, which was a perilous prospect in the Dominion. So she gives a polite smile, both to Kayala Na and to her teacup reflection, and says no more about it).

What is more relevant than the truth of the statement, though, is that Kayala Na has made it, and made it with conviction. That [i]is[/i] curious. She had thought until this moment that the Knight was another duty-bound servant, that her misery was from likewise having no choice. But from that, the smile. The [i]invitation[/i]. She had... chosen this. Remarkable.

It was a shame that she'd qualified her statement, though. [i]As long as you're not hurting anyone[/i]. It turned out that what she really wanted, deep down, [i]did[/i] involve hurting people. That perhaps Kayala Na was virtuous enough to step from the Path like an Immaculate, breaking convention in order to restore it. Her own lapse had been less admirable, and she had left a great deal of harm in her wake already.

Her reflection's eyes glittered blue. She drank it, swallowed it, hid it away deep inside of her again. But one drop remained in the cup. She measured it, as she might measure a dose of poison. After a long moment, she decided that perhaps she could allow herself this one drop.

"I do want that," she said.

[Clearing [b]Afraid[/b]

Fengye has become [b]Smitten[/b] with Kayala; take a string and see above for the answer to the Beautiful Lie.]