He smiles at me, and it sends a thrill through my body. It startles me, in some ways. I have known many men, and many bodies, and yet it has been a very long time since one has affected me physically so quickly. "Nice to celebrate love when the sun's bright, though theah's something to be said for thinking on it in the dark of wintah, seeds buried deep beneath frosted soil, ayuh."

"In my country, we celebrate love in these months as well," I smile. "The day on which girls demonstrated their arts to potential suitors, and therefore their suitability as wives, that comes in the summer. But the day for lovers to meet, this is this month or the month previous. That is when young woman are allowed away from their homes unescorted, attendant to no curfew, so that they can meet young men." The end days of the Lantern Festival, when the streets are lit with soft flame and the air warm with with smells of music and food. "It is a good time."

"Sorry to hear that, sweet." An odd thrill runs through me when he calls me "sweet". "Hard to do that to a friend. Hardah to know a friend would do something to make you need to."

"It is," I say quietly. "I did...I knew that she was becoming...more suspicious, towards the Carnival, and those within it. But to do this, it..." I am startled again, this time by how close I am to tears, "...it was beyond anything I had believed."