No, no. I don’t know anyone there. I’ve never been.
[ He considered it once, not long ago. Sitting on the steps, not long after Vincent’s execution. Bastien said, I was in love with him for a long time. Where does someone go to escape that? Antiva? And Byerly said, Well, Antiva is where I went. After Alexandrie.
She gathers into herself, and he lets go of her hand, accepting his place—not beneath her, but at a remove. ]
But you may bring me back a song, if you have time to look for one. One the people are singing.
[ He lets go, and she pulls hers back to her waist to join with her other; relaxing back to softness once it's there. Separated, it can be genuine again when she says ]
Ever more generous than expected or truly reasonable, Madame.
[ His bow is as small as her smile—something that could be sardonic, in another context, but here just a gesture of gratitude over the distance they’ve established. His eyes are warm. ]
[ there’s something about that ”be safe” that makes her pause. She had tried to be. Safe. Safe and untouchable, invulnerable, and in the end that sort of safety—the one she had even now just retreated to—had bought her all the turmoil and grief and regret she had hoped to avoid in the first place.
And so she hesitates for a moment, and then pushes through to the full opposite of her instinctive withdrawal to fold him into a hug; a loose one first. An eminently escapable question. ]
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[ He considered it once, not long ago. Sitting on the steps, not long after Vincent’s execution. Bastien said, I was in love with him for a long time. Where does someone go to escape that? Antiva? And Byerly said, Well, Antiva is where I went. After Alexandrie.
She gathers into herself, and he lets go of her hand, accepting his place—not beneath her, but at a remove. ]
But you may bring me back a song, if you have time to look for one. One the people are singing.
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I will bring you two, [ with a little smile. ]
One they sing for joy, and one for sorrow.
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[ His bow is as small as her smile—something that could be sardonic, in another context, but here just a gesture of gratitude over the distance they’ve established. His eyes are warm. ]
Be safe.
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And so she hesitates for a moment, and then pushes through to the full opposite of her instinctive withdrawal to fold him into a hug; a loose one first. An eminently escapable question. ]