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"How do you feel?" she asked. "Tell me the truth."
"Like the world is quieter inside," he said after thinking. "Like… I have a new room to stand in. You?"
"As if I chose well," she said, and, after a heartbeat, "and as if the goddess might be sad for us in a bad way. I did something that was forbidden for me. But I really liked it."
He was surprised, worried and relieved at the same time, that he satisfied her. Then he sobered. "Sera… I know you're you —temple, vows, the weight of your family name— and I don't want to make your life heavy with my choices."
