This was a loaded letter, even more so than her last one had been with the reference to Zelda — not a name Ben was familiar with, but presumably a friend. He imagined that Zelda might have been read into this situation the same way that he'd told Art about it, and might have had some directive from Dionisia that was similar to the one he'd given Art before the duel. If something goes wrong, don't let her hear it through the paper. Whatever injury had put Dionisia in the hospital hadn't been that dire, apparently, but it had been bad enough that she hadn't been able to hold a quill for several days, which wasn't good. The rest of what she said likewise implied that she was still fragile, and if she was fragile then he could justify lying to her about what had happened the last time they'd spoken, or at least omitting some of the truth. Partly it was out of a desire not to put too much on her — if she'd forgotten about their conversation about the duel, that was probably for the best, because it had all worked out just fine and there was no point in worrying her about it again after the fact. Partly it was that he wouldn't have known what to say even if he had wanted to. You tried to hand him to me and all the sudden I couldn't breathe.

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MJ made this <3