A comedy was better than any of the alternatives -- Merlin forbid that August had been rereading Romeo & Juliet. And the boy would have a happy ending. August was determined of that.

He wanted to brush the tears away from Lyra's eyes, but knew better than to reach for her now. Instead he looked at his shoes and then back at her, and said, "That's Lysander or Demetrius, isn't it?" Both got their happy endings after all the fairy-induced shenanigans, with no memories of the pain or the drama of the night.

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