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"I uh...yeah, I did."

Despite being far away and below Qiu, Chen's whole body hangs like someone who was about to open a door and just realized that somebody was on the other side and grabbed it as fast as they could so they didn't slam into anyone. She almost looks like she's going to fall over for an instant, before she manages to settle her weight back and keep her center of gravity over her feet. She just...she was ready for a lot of things. Like, surprise attacks from her supposed arch-nemesis! Or, or sudden hugs to create lots of confusing emotions! Or maybe...um...a big showy grand entrance with flaming pillars and stuff! But, you'll have to forgive her because she was not ready for the hot wet hair look and this weird sort of restrained tension where she knows Qiu wants to have a duel, but she's clearly being nice and it would be incredibly rude to push her when she's trying so hard and...and...eeep! Yes eeep! That's what she was not ready for!

Okay, deep breath, everybody is looking at Chen and she's got to say something more than just uh yeah to fill the silence. "I have, um, very technically, fulfilled exactly what you asked of me. I have found Yue and she is here, now, with me, in front of you. But...I don't think I should really collect on the prize because she only came here to tell you in person that she's not interested in being your handmaiden. Or anybody's handmaiden I think. A-Anyway, she's really special and I totally get why your demon advisor said she's special (reader: Chen has no idea why the demon said that) but I think she should get to choose what she wants, so I'm here to let you know that I promised to protect her whatever she chooses. Oh also, just like, please don't let Yin go looking for random innocent girls again. She is seriously a lot and I'm pretty sure she freaked out, like, everybody here with me."

Chen looked like her brain was just catching up to her mouth and, before her brain could manage too much thinking of how sideways that had just gone, she turns to the group. "Well...um, anyway, you already know what she looks like, but this is Yue, just Yue. Yue, above you there in all her...glory is Princess Qiu Tian, the three shard-princess. And uh, the person whose weird old world demon advisor started this whole mess by saying you were the most valuable thing in Qiu's new kingdoms. You should introduce yourself."

Well, that was something at least. Both her parents would be horribly disappointed, and she still couldn't tell why Qiu was being so nice about this, but she was very definitely putting a lot of effort into it and it was really throwing Chen off her game. But...maybe it meant this was all fine and there wouldn't be any big fights?
There are times when things move so fast that the world feels as though it could turn full roundabout in the blink of an eye. But those are rare times. Most often, the world moves at the pace of seasons, and the land, even sickly though it may be, does not change in an instant, but over long slow time as work and toil cannot keep their pace. So the summer storms give way to the harvest, meager though it may be. There is no war to be had, and the hand upon shaft is the scythe swishing through the fields. There is not enough. Of course, there is never enough, and belts will be tight. A hard year for the old and the young. Then there is an early chill by late October, and then the snow. It comes first in flurries that do not stick but merely offer an unending sense of damp. Later, by late November, it comes properly, thick and heavy, blanketing the land and hiding its colors. Icicles dot the rafters, and the paths are perilous. There is darkness, and the brief light of the holidays as candles and wreaths fill the halls, and then into a new year met with hope, but also with dread.

*****

Constance and Tristan
But perhaps let us look back a moment. On that fateful summer day, there were harsh words, and a parting upon the field. Constance, you were in no doubt from what you'd seen that King Pellinore was dead, your champion lacking, and High King Pendragon beyond your reach. You pronounced King Pellinore departed, only her doom lingering in this world. You offered what ceremony you could for the burial, as was your right and duty. Robena had left the field and the Lady Sandsfern did not linger long after. Pellinore's knights paid you begrudging respect (they do not think well of your lady, but they do of your station) and when you were done and the eulogy complete, Mort followed you, no longer bound by his oaths to his liege.

Tristan, ever the lady Marianne's loyal servant, remained with Constance, observing the ceremony and paying what respect he could, though he knew in his heart that Pellinore was lost long before Robena's axe met her neck. It is a sadness to the world that one such as she, her humanity long-buried, nevertheless supported several loyal knights of good bearing and earnest belief. Theirs was not the fault of their master, though neither did any save Mort depart their service and most returned to Camelot after all was done.

So you both returned to Marianne's castle of Lostwithiel, where Tristan made himself useful and found a hunting party to drive off the badger. It went without much fight. It seems that the questing beast was no longer near, perhaps itself mourning Pellinore's loss, and so the Badger returned willingly enough to the murkier forests. Constance and Cath Palug brooded, for there was no champion to save Britain as she imagined it.

It was in this manner that the messenger found you both in the castle yard, Constance distracted and Tristan training nearby. The messenger wore greens, but not those of Lostwithiel, rather a long cloak of verdant green like the color of sunlight through thickset leaves. She did not speak, but placed a note in Constance's hands. A short letter that bade her come to the Forest Sauvage as quickly as she could, that her counsel was requested as to the Knight's Doom.

She took you, Tristan, as bodyguard because you understood the things that you and she might face, and she took the cat that she called Cath and who would not deign to be held by anyone but Constance. She took Mort as well, for her had become her page and waiting man, knowing no other cause to which to give himself. And she took three fine horses, if begrudgingly at her Lady's insistence, and you set out for the castle.

It is now the new year and you have just arrived at this foreboding place. But there was a young page at the entrance dressed in finery of that same verdant and he beckoned you to come rest your horses and enter the hall of this snowy castle.


Now, you stand in a grand hall (if not so grand as either Lostwithiel or Camelot for its remoteness). Thick woven tapestries of linen line the walls, vibrant scenes of great animals: stags, foxes, boars, wolves, and bears. A noble lady sits upon the throne, pale and stern, her green dress with it slow flowing sleeves speaking of skilled seamstresses. She sits upon the high seat alone, you might have expected a partner, but all her attendants and advisors stand behind and below her, only a small handful.

"Lady Constance Nim, I bid you welcome. And welcome to the guests you have brought as well. Please accept the meager hospitality of my home, though it is indeed too meager even to have a proper name beyond the forest in which it resides. Please, tell me of your journey and what I may do to make you comfortable before we talk of more serious matters."

Tell us then, what you gained from the passing season and what you hope to find here, and then we will turn to the business of Robena's doom.

*****

Robena

You stalked from the field, your death already upon you, your oaths completed. Whither then, for the next months? Surely not back to Lostwithiel? Did you seek solitude or company? The times may be dire, but that merely attracts the more mendicant travelers, and one more pilgrim, even one with a fine horse, is not so remarkable among them.

Wherever you were, the messenger in the verdant cloak found you after the turning of the New Year, at least two weeks after she met with Constance and Tristan. She did not speak, but handed you a note. Yours was written in a strong and flowing script and offered only this:
If you yet have your honor as a knight, you will come to face your appointed fate
There is a castle deep within the Forest Sauvage
Follow the King's road from the South, then stay by the river and turn West when the trees grow so thick that you can no longer continue North and you will come upon it.


You have not yet arrived, but as you follow your appointed path, tell us how you passed the season and how you appear within the forest.
Chen steps from the car after Yue tumbles out, sword drawn, knuckles white on the hilt, breath tense. In comparison to what had just happened, Ysel seemed tame and restrained, and Elkibrand must have been an angel gifted specifically with driving skills for Chen's personal comfort earlier. Chen had drawn her sword around one particularly tight corner on a steep curve, absolutely convinced that the car was going to flip and she was going to need to either try and right it or pull everyone out before they crashed to the bottom of a nearby ravine. Somehow that hadn't happened, and she couldn't remember if she had panicked and helped with the cornering herself, or if she'd simply been clinging to Rose the entire time, sword clenched tightly in one hand as part of the tightest hug of her life.

A-a-anyway! Clinging to Rose had been the perfectly sensible choice. She was by far the strongest, so if there was a crash, having her and Chen together gave them the best chance of weathering it, getting out, and being able to save everybody else. S-so, it made sense that she would hug the huntress as tightly as possible, and squeeze with all the might of her tiny little arms compared to that thick, deep chest. So, that was totally normal, smart, and sensible and everybody was perfectly fine with that.

Oh, right, they were out of the car now and she had let Rose go so that they could all get out because that was also what normal, sensible people did and now she was stepping a few feet away so everybody else could get out and taking in the new scenery. And they were...oh for the love of the suns. This entire space just screamed arena duel. Each of those pillars was thick enough to hide behind and sturdy enough to bounce off of, creating a hundred different angles for surprise attacks. The pyramid offered a perfect landmark to orient yourself from any angle and a potential goal if the contest was more than just a sword duel (maybe a race or offense/defense sort of contest?).

Chen already had her sword in her hand, the crystal blade sparkling merrily, her own stance not quite staying still, keeping light on her feet and ready for a sudden movement in any direction. She could feel the sort of hunger that Qiu had for this contest reflected in the landscape all around them. Was she going to have to defend her new friends in a duel after Yue refused Qiu's coterie? She didn't think she could beat Qiu straight up, even if the three-shard princess didn't use any sort of shard cheating, but she could make a fight of it and give the rest time to escape. She knew Qiu wanted that badly, Chen had danced around ever facing her directly and the tantalizing prospect of that duel had kept Qiu's interest even before they'd shared art tips on the boat and Qiu had wrapped her tail around Chen so...enticingly.

A blush was creeping onto Chen's face, when she was saved by poor, sick, blessed, wonderful, Yue, asking for flowers and peach trees. Chen laughed, covering her blush. "Oh, this isn't for decoration. This is a dueling ground! Qiu loves a personal contest of skill best of all, that's how she won all her shards." Chen's levity let her at last relax her white knuckle grip and settle herself, though she did not put her sword away just yet. Something about the place held her back from that, maybe the first creeping of Qiu's shards already influencing her, and that took the smile right off her face. "Be careful when you meet Princess Qiu Tian. She has three sunshards and even more than Yin they let her influence the whole world around her. You might find yourself feeling things you've never felt before. Right now I'm still sort of on an errand for her, but when she realizes that's not what's happened, she might try to push any of us into competing with her. So, be ready for the unexpected and don't try to confront her directly."

Chen spares a glance for Hyra and Rose in turn, the other two most likely culprits to do something stupid in this scenario besides herself. Then she looks up to the pyramid, wondering where the three-shard princess has gotten herself.
“Thank you so much, Rose, you’re an incredible friend and it makes me happy how you’re so kind to me and such fun to do things with” ...is what the calm, thoughtful part of Chen’s mind wanted to say. However, that part of her brain was, at best, around 10% in operation at the moment. The other 90% was too busy having an extreme meltdown for coherent words.

It was somewhere around “polite little girls” that Chen just started imploding completely. Her blush, already building, completely overtook her from neck to forehead, her cheeks like bright little tomatoes. She vacillated between wanting to jump directly into Rose’s thick, strong arms and desperately begging the ground to open up a hole and swallow her quickly so that she wouldn’t have to endure a second longer. The result was Chen unable to meet Rose’s gaze and unable to stand still as that strong, firm hand cupped over hers held her firmly in place. She moved her shoulders, she shifted her legs, pulled her feet apart, brought her feet back together, and progressively started shaking more and more in that grip. She loved this, the games and the teasing, and the strength that Rose emanated. It was too much, aaaaaaaaah!

What came out when Rose paused and looked to Chen to use any words at all was something like “mmnnrrrfff” which might have made you think the gag was already in place, and then a high-pitched squeaking and shaking her head as Chen tried her absolute bestest to respond to Rose with something and failed utterly.
“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly...” Princess Chen grew immediately flushed and cut herself off.

Of course, Chen didn’t need an allowance. Of course. She carried some coinage in her bags for travel needs, and her reputation alone, people would happily trade her for a future favor or a good word with one of her mothers (though the cactus episode had taught her to spend that currency carefully indeed). Besides that, it would be incredibly rude for her to accept gifts like this given her station, and on top of that accepting a gift would mean that she would owe Rose a favor, which was out of the question given everything she knew now. It was definitely improper and she shouldn’t do it. But...she wanted Rose to give her a little gift and make a big deal of it. She sort of even wanted Yue to laugh again, even at her.

“That is...I...um...it would be rude...but...er...if you insisted...” Chen is barely getting words out in between short breaths as her embarrassment grows and her voice gets progressively higher as an embarrassed squeak builds in her throat instead. She can’t bear Rose looking at her that way, but can’t take her eyes off either, and with words failing her, she manages just the tiniest little nod that yes she wants this very much. The cherry tomato flush making her want to sink into the earth (or into Rose...aaaaah) finally becomes too much and she yanks her eyes down, looking back up just a sliver to see if Rose is indeed giving her anything.

[Chen is very much enticed and now flustered]
There is a weight to the air that lasts beyond the departure of the spirit that was once King Pellinore. It hangs like a shroud over the world, reflects in the dark clouds gathering overhead. They threaten a summer storm, which ought to be a blessing, but might well cause floods with the soil this dry and loose. And in the meantime, it is like the world still holds its breath.

Knights begin to fill the village commons, perhaps ten or so all told, recovering from the quake. But they keep a respectful distance, clustering towards the town gate where Pellinore's ghost had ridden from and faded. The knights speak in hushed whispers, and the townsfolk cover their windows further afield. The events of this day will be known.

Mort hides behind Constance, though he spares a glance for Tristan scrambling down from the rooftops as well. He is at the least, bold enough to stay near the group, rather than flee at the death of his liege. He looks like he's considering trying to approach the spot where the body had fallen and trying to gather some token or perhaps just some bloodied grass to use for a burial, but he dares not approach.

Only the Lady Sandsfern seems unaffected. She steps forward, full of life and color, her cheeks ruddy, and puts a hand on Robena's shoulder. "Well done, indeed, Robena! Well struck! Ah, how I've missed your strength since we parted ways in near Byzantium! Knights will sing of this day!" It is like the gloom cannot touch her, and perhaps that is the truth, that the Lady Sandsfern is beyond such things as mortal ghosts. As to your forthcoming death in her service, it seems she offers neither acknowledgment nor care.

To all of you, how do you part from this moment, and what are your plans to pass the summer season?
"Oh! My! Gosh!" Chen bounces up, almost standing in her stirrups to see as the balloons come into view. Her horse (she named her Hei because Chen took the black mare) prances forward nervously, feeling Chen leaning forward, and realizing she's distressing her mount, Chen leans back and urges Hei into a trot instead so that she can get to the full view over the hill faster!

The others might be forgiven for not immediately riding forward to match Chen. She had spent the entire trip bouncing up and down at new sights, sounds, and smells. She had been popping up out of hay bales and accidentally causing the boat to rock, and generally being an incorrigible little bundle of energy the whole trip.

You have to understand, it's not that Chen hadn't seen the countryside. She had her painting spots near Sourcefall, and a few special places further afield. And she had been kidnapped and dragged about a fair few times. But mostly, Chen flew, and the people who kidnapped her flew and stopped at little cottages or glades, whatever safe place they knew. She saw the world from above it, and often at a blur when she was in a hurry. She never just traveled. So on this trip, bouncing from wagons to boats to horses, everything was new and exciting because Princess Chen of the Northern Wind, for all her training and skills had just never traveled this way.

There had been a little glimpse of Chen's regular life when they got the horses. She had to go back, so she had stepped a little distance from the horses (so as not to startle them) held out her sword, and then zipped off just like that! She'd been back at the shrine within moments, bowed and offered payment without trying to negotiate, and then zipped right back, the whole morning's walking trip done in about fifteen minutes. And yes, she had been showing off a little bit, but she also didn't want to keep her new friends waiting, so she'd gone for a speed record on that route that wouldn't be broken for decades.

But, back to the balloons. Chen rode forward and caught the first glimpse of the flying dragon, bringing Hei to a stop. This, she had never seen. Her parents had taken her to visit the Sky Castle when she was little, but they didn't go to the market below (or maybe they were there at the wrong season, she didn't know) and so this was the first time she had witnessed their trading like this. It was incredible, almost beyond words. She gently urged Hei to a stop and just stared from their hill as the world flashed with dragon breath and the balloons began to take off.

"Amazing. This is just...have any of you ever seen this before?" She turned back to the group, sparkling wide eyes aimed mostly for Rose who seemed the best traveled. "This has to be special, right? They can't just do this all the time, can they?" She asks nobody in particular.
There is a moment where Chen looks uneasy. What if little Kat disdains her and walks away?! She'd be rejected forever by the most powerful authority in all the world and then where would she be? But then she hops into Chen's lap instead and she's making her way up for a head smash and oh gosh she's so fluffy and her paws are tickling Chen's thighs and she can't help but start laughing!

"T-thank you!" she manages between her laughter, pulling the little fox into a hug and getting those little paws off her very ticklish legs. Deep breath, okay. "Thank you. It's um, Chen of the Northern Wind, Princess of Sourcefall and Ys, heir to twin sunshards, and aspiring artist, but just Chen is fine. Unless you ever have to meet my moms, especially Hestia, she really likes all the formality stuff, then we can practice together."

Chen is all smiles though, the kind of unabashed, hug a fox, sunshine bursting through your face delight that's just impossible to fake. And for a moment, she just revels in that. At meeting all the people here who fill her heart with joy and make her flush with pleasure and just how great the day has been and how nothing could possibly take that away!

Then she remembers all the things that could definitely take that away and puts her game face on. "Alright, well, if you don't want to be Qiu's handmaiden, you're going to need to either convince her yourself or find a place to hide. And maybe some disguise magic too because she's got posters with your face in every town by the lakeside. Do you know a place that would be safe and hidden? Or does anyone here? Cyanis, or Rose maybe?"
Tristan

Although you focus, what you see is a broader perspective. Looking closely at Pellinore, you can see that she is not...made of herself. Those are the words your mind would give you, that Pellinore is not made of herself. It is like a vast string stretches from Uther's throne in Camelot to entwine her and from her stretches out to the Questing Beast, lurking in a dell not so far from the village as you might have thought. There may once have been humanity in Pellinore, but it is not what constitutes her. Instead she is wrapped all about with the destiny and the darkness that comes from Uther Pendragon and manifests in the sickness and chaos in the land. Whatever humanity there was in her has been pressed down and down, then wrapped up with a monstrous destiny so tightly that you cannot see it.

And then, a blade falls and, for a brief instant, everything goes dark before you disentangle your senses and find yourself back on your roof.

Everyone

The blade falls with the weight of a mountain, lodging itself in King Pellinore's neck and biting into her back. Her body crumples and collapses, carrying the sword with it.

The last of the earthquake subsides and there is stillness and the settling of dust. Mort, the young knight in Pellinore's retinue, stands with mouth agape behind Constance, stunned by the scene. The folk of Southaven were already cleared out far away and none dare approach now. The knights returning from their panic pull up short when they come upon the scene.

Then, unnaturally, a ghostly aura of sickly green surrounds the corpse of King Pellinore. It stirs and rises inhumanly, the skin fading and blurring with the dry dirt and grass. Her head and neck dangle at a forward angle, barely attached to her body at all. The motion tilts the sword upwards and half translucent blood gently flows down her back from the wound before she cradles her own head in her right arm.

The ghost turns first to Constance and makes just the slightest bow, an act of grotesquery as the head and arm dip almost upside down. Then it turns to Robena and a voice somehow croaks out from that cut throat.

"The judgment of the Lady Constance is accepted. As recompense in a year and a day, your blow will be answered in kind."

The doom pronounced, the ghost steps past Constance and Mort, mounting Mort's horse, which seems to fade and blur as the ghost claims it. It goes to ride from town, but as it moves away, body and horse alike fade and blur with the distant forest until there is nothing left to be seen of the dead King Pellinore.
Princess Chen takes the last sip of her tea and lowers the mug gently and oh so carefully to the ground beside her. It is an old tea set, but full of love and she will not add a single chip or scratch to it. It makes a light clink on the stone where she rests it here beside the new shrine.

Rose finishes speaking and for a moment, that little clink from Chen's cup simply hangs in the air, too clear and pure to fade. The silence lasts as Chen rises from her seat and smoothes her silks, and only then does she break it. "Delicious tea. Truly special." In what must be quite the embarrassment to a girl mostly engaged in being covered by foxes, Chen puts her hands together and leans her head forward in a deep bow of respect for the meal, ducking her head beneath her locked arms.

Then she looks at Rose. In her mind, she files away the words 'she would never discover her own secrets' knowing that to ask of such a thing now would be the most perilous question. Instead she looks at Rose, at how the great monk carries herself. The feeling is fear, is it not, that rests in her stance. Fear of herself? "Your Way flows nearly as swiftly as the wind, I think. You are much changed from when I met you with the Scales of Meaning, Rose, and even from our fight. I thought you enjoyed that, does the Way allow you enjoyment?" Chen shudders for a moment, remembering some of Hestia's lessons on hard work and self-sacrifice. Perhaps her Mom followed the Way and didn't know it? No matter, the question was rhetorical and Chen swiftly fills the space before Rose can answer.

"You asked someone else to take a turn though, right, and I owe Yue, at least, an explanation of why I'm here. And perhaps Hyra as well. Though for my part, I'd like to know why one of Yin's handmaidens seemed ready to stab her." A glance for Hyra and a cute smile at what she expects to be a wolf baring her fangs.

"But, as I said, I'll go next." She steps over to Yue, covered in fox and fox maiden in their turn. "I'm sorry, this must be so much. I imagine that maybe you were prepared for an adventure with one special warrior and a fox who grants wishes, and instead the world has dropped four of them right on you, counting Yin, not to mention all manner of demons. Maybe it will make you feel better to know that my moms did something similar. When I was first starting to learn all the things for how to be a Princess, and my moms were still together, they introduced me to things like what Yin did. They're called Sunshards, the special magic of the suns of this world that used to once be in the sky in a time that Rose might even remember. Well, my moms decided they were just going to toss me in the deep end and see how I did. So they put their two sunshards together and they made a big world out of our palace. Some of it was full of caves with sparkling gems and light coming in at strange angles to make rainbows on underground waterfalls. Other parts were full of indoor deserts with their own little oases and palm trees rising up to the ceiling and such heat that the air shimmered and swayed like a dancer." Chen pauses and offers a little affect with her own silks to lighten the mood.

"I suppose they thought I'd rise to the occasion. At first it did seem enchanting. But it turned out the caves were full of all manner of things, scary crystal monsters that would come after me if I stayed in one place too long, and demons coming from the water, and then all manner of snakes and even one ifrit in the middle of the desert who had the most booming voice. I think that was actually my Mommy, Ysel, playing pretend. But, whatever it was, I wasn't up to it. I screamed and ran off and found a low little cave with a noisy stream where I thought I'd be hidden until they found me crying and had to carry me out of their special magic castle. That was the first time I ever had to deal with all this big magic stuff. You came out the other side of Yin, and now of our friend Rose here and you're okay. You even found a nice outfit and have some new friends!" Here, Chen gestures to Hyra, and then down to Cyanis, who is giggling in Yue's lap in a way that makes Chen very quickly blush and step sideways, clearing her throat to resume talking.

"So, I'm going to say some things about all the Princesses and such, but I think you shouldn't worry about them right now. Hyra will understand, and Rose might know some of them, and anyway I just want you to know why I'm here now." Chen nods and looks more at Hyra now when she's speaking, though she spares glances back to Yue. "Among the Princesses right now, there's one called Qiu Tian. She's very powerful and demanding, and she has this lovely strong dragon's tail and wears her dresses with a sort of confident lounging pose and...um, a-anyway, what's important is that Qiu has three of the sun shards now and most everyone else is upset about that." Chen looks at Rose to see whether she's upset about that.

"My parents split up, but each of them is in charge of a princess alliance that's trying to stop Qiu before she takes over everything. I'm supposed to try and get Qiu's shards. I could do that by fighting her, but I'd probably lose since she's so strong. But, I might also get them by embarrassing her or tricking her. So, right now, I'm working for her to bring her you, Yue! Because one of Qiu's special demon advisors (she has those) said you were the most valuable thing in her entire new kingdom. No idea why! But the special demon advisor said so, so it must be true. That's why Qiu drew your face on all those posters and she's offering a princess dance as a reward for whoever brings you to her, which is what I'm after."

Chen hesitates here, kicking one foot uncomfortably against some loose dirt. "Except...well, I think the Princesses are mean sometimes! My moms can be, and so can Qiu, and you met Yin. So, I want all that stuff I said, but only if you, Yue, want to become a handmaiden and train with princess Qiu. It would be tough, but you'd learn how to fly like Hyra and I can, and how to do some magic that you'd be good at, and how to duel with that sword you've got in the bag there. But, if you don't want to do that, well, I'd just like to be your friend and help you find a way to hide for a little while until everyone stops looking."

Chen looks around her. At Rose who is afraid of herself, clutching Yue's sunstones. At Hyra, who has a look of suspicion because she can't decide if Chen is legit or up to some kind of Princess trick (too wise a handmaiden by half), at the fox and the fox who have decided that Yue is very comfortable indeed thank you, and at Yue herself, for whom probably most of this flew over her head, but who has the unenviable position of having to decide things. She offers a curtsy to fill the silence. "I r-really hope that we can be friends" she adds, with some hesitation.
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