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[mantlebearer]

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[rakta]

a bargain. if you would.

[mantlebearer]

For you? Of course.

[rakta]

[ What does THAT mean? She can worry about that later. ]

in the tunnels. your company eased me, yes?

[mantlebearer]

[ it's okay he will worry about it later too! ]

I had hoped so, but to hear the confirmation makes me feel a lot better.

But, in short, yes. What of it?

[rakta]

[ The horror of being immediately emotionally attached to someone… ]

would you do it again?

[mantlebearer]

[ right.... ]

Help you? Well, yes. Of course.

[ and here's the thing — he's not a selfless kind of guy. he's not the type to help people just for the hell of it. and yet, when she asks, that is the only answer he has to give. ]

[rakta]

would you hold my hand again.

[mantlebearer]

I did say I would help you. If that is helping... then yes.

It's not really a hardship.

[rakta]

and in return?

[mantlebearer]

[ right. this is how she operates — in things given and received, favours owed and collected. as if he'd hold her to owe him something, over this. ]

A favour. For a time when I am the one in need of your help. Only something equivalent to what I am agreeing to, of course... your presence, in other words. When I ask for it.

[rakta]

[ It is how she was raised, fae and elf both, and what she expects from others. There is never any guarantee of kindness in any world, not this or her own.

A favour feels a threat, but... He clarifies, and it is fair. ]

i accept. a favour, in return for my own ask.

[mantlebearer]

[ yes, he clarifies; a favour on its own is too broad a term, and he certainly would never agree. he doubts she would, either. but this? this, a favour bound into the connection that exists between the two of them... that is alright. ]

Then... when and where do you need me?

[ he assumes she has asked not for the distant future, but sooner. ]

[rakta]

[ This is something she can do. This is something she can handle. An easy, firm trade, nothing else. ]

soon. as soon as you are able.