As a rule Marlena hated gossip. It led to incessant chatter, unnecessary distractions and she saw absolutely no advantage in knowing who had been seen with who in the park – she also didn’t like to listen on the off-chance that Begonia would come up but that was by-the-by. On this occasion though she was treating her information less as gossip and more as a kind of intel and it felt far more passable to be seeking out one of her colleagues to pass along what she knew.

And it wasn’t really gossip if she was doing it so Emilia wouldn’t be caught off-guard by somebody else telling her, was it? Merlin, why couldn’t they just talk about the moon? It was considerably easier and didn’t leave her feeling awkward.

“It’s beautiful,” Lena replied sincerely, frowning as she closed the door behind her and pulled a seat towards Emilia. “Is everything…well? With you, I mean?”

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