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"I don't know if you'd like me to talk about it, which isn't really the same thing as being uncomfortable but might as well yield the same results."

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"What's the subject?"

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"Alts," she repeats. "And how they come in pairs."

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"... Ah, that. I'm - all right with talking about it, with you. Though technically neither Prime nor Aya are - in a pair."
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"Yes. Before we met Phix and Max it was just a coincidence, more or less. And now it looks less like one."

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"That it does. It sort of makes me want to go throw my father into a slightly more terrible dungeon, but I'm resisting that urge."

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"Doing that would require you to interact with him again," she points out wryly.

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"Yes, yes it would. And I never want to have to put up with that - person. I'll go with person. I never want to have to put up with that person again."

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"I don't blame you."

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"Thanks. But - we're... A bit off topic. Aren't we."

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"A bit." Her hand clenches in her lap. "They're - so happy."

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"So delightfully happy," he agrees.

He glances at the clenched hand. He considers trying to hold it, then - decides against it, for now. Maybe later.

"We've - decided what to do, but we seem to be - having trouble making it - happen."
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"Yes. I don't suppose we can just pretend you found a time machine and start over?"

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"I - wouldn't even know where to begin."

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"Me, either."

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Edarial swallows, and then - carefully goes to take her hand.
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She lets him, unclenching it as he collects it. She almost says something, but then changes her mind.

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He'll just - hold her hand. Gently. For now.

"... I have no idea if that was a place to begin or not?" he laughs, self-consciously.
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"If you'd walked into my shop and held my hand without saying hello first I daresay I would have been puzzled," she remarks.

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Edarial snickers. "I - would not have gone with that, as a starter."

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"In the scenario where you were acting on instructions from your future self or the one where you have suddenly contrived a need for a spellbook?"

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"Both. The - contrived need for a spellbook I would have acted utterly ordinary. The instructions from my future self, less so."

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"I think I would have recognized you if you'd walked in. Because you were a prince and it is generally wise to know what the future ruler of one's country looks like. It would have been very unexpected."

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"I'll bet," he snorts. "What would you have done if the crown prince walked in asking for a spellbook?"

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"Sold it to you. Maybe if I had politics on my mind I'd have asked how you were planning to do some particular thing, if there seemed to be a rapport, but I didn't like to overdo customer interaction, I never liked it when I was held up making small talk while buying jam and bread and sardines."

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