"You're welcome."

Aaaand back to Spring. He knocks on the front door to her house.

There is a delay, and then she opens the door, just slightly red around the eyes but otherwise composed. There is a half-drawn many-legged starfish on her desk.

"Hello. I have an apology to make."

"O-oh?"

"The - I suppose most succinct way of putting it is in English. I misplaced the comma. I was treating it as, 'Aya, in love because of a necklace,' rather than, 'Aya in love, because of a necklace.'" Pause. "I did turn out to need to go to the other Bells, but not for the reasons I'd thought. I was mistaken. I'm sorry for doubting your judgement."

"It - is compromised. You aren't wrong."

"I wasn't right, either."

"Do you want to come in again, or...?"

"Sure. If you don't mind, anyway...?"

She shakes her head and stands aside and sits in front of her starfish.

"I can't necessarily tell the difference between - comma problems, and accurate but unpleasant observations."

"You have more skill at it than I do. Just look at my track record."

"I don't think I could have identified this one as the thing you're saying it is."

"Sure."

"Well, first of all - if I were caught off guard any sort of mind-affecting magic, I would want everyone around me to not believe a word I say until it was out of me no matter how convincing I was. Even if it was relatively minor. Even if it seemed like I was combating it, because I am extremely paranoid."

"Are we going to have to treat the new Adarin that way?"

"I think at this point there's little purpose to it. Also, it's likely the other Adarins will act different than I will, because - five hundred years old, and the most paranoid of us all."

"Would there be a point to doing this paranoia treatment with me? I mean - none of the sorts of things that I might do under the influence are - okay, some of them are, but none of the things that I'd actively try to convince you to let me do are things that would leave me in a harmed state if I were later - undone."

"That's the thing. I was doing the paranoia treatment with you. Because I thought that was what you'd want. And - I don't know what sorts of things would leave you in a harmed state or not. It varies from person to person."

"I - am having a hard time wanting to be the un-necklaced version of myself, right now, but that doesn't mean I want to hurt that version if I'm ever going to turn into it. Why would I do that?"

"See? That. There's - part of the disconnect, the misplaced comma. I thought, 'Of course you wouldn't care about it, you are being affected by a conspiracy necklace.' When, in fact, you're still you, with all of the intelligence and self-awareness and introspection that brings, so of course you would think that. And for missing that, I'm sorry."