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“Harmony, just breathe and try to focus, please.” Your hand remains on her shoulder but you don't get any more intimate than that. You don't want to risk her freaking out at you. You're going to be very, very careful with her. “Your Keeper, this... Prince Charming, he wouldn't have let you live like this. Everything that you've done today, you've done because you wanted to. You've made your own choices and drawn your own lines in the sand, no one's forced you to do anything. Don't you see? You're free. He would try to control every aspect of your life but he hasn't, because he's not here. You're the one in control now, Harmony. It's alright.”
Yet logic and gentle reassurance doesn't seem to get through to Harmony. Whatever she's going through is far more visceral than the kind words that you have to offer her. Every time that you try to console her, she just babbles something hysterical. It doesn't matter how you refute it, she just latches onto some other paranoid possibility and raves about that instead. Before too long, you become the target of her irrational outbursts.
“Fuck you, Saul. Fuck you for making me remember this! I had moved on, I had pushed him out, left my past behind! But you had to come along and make me dive back in and now... Now he's going to come for me again and it's all your fucking fault! He's going to drag me back there and it's all because of you, it's all your fault!”
“That isn't fair,” you say, in an effort to defend yourself. “We had a deal, remember? I didn't force you to tell me anything. I offered you a favour if you could share your story and you agreed–”
“I wish I fucking hadn't! This was a mistake and now he's coming, he's coming... Get the fuck away from me!” Though she isn't able to muster much strength, Harmony furiously shoves at you. “Leave me alone!” Once she has shrieked those words at you, you capitulate and stand up, leaving her alone on the bench. She slumps back against the weathered wood and just bawls her diamond eyes out. Having decided that nothing you can say or do will help her, you give her the solitude that she asked for and leave her there, to overcome her hysteria on her own.
The next day comes and you stop by Lady Welby's shop, shortly after she has closed for the night. Owen has shut you down and Harmony has told you everything you wanted to know. You only hope that your mentor has had better success than you.
“I am shocked you got anything out of Harmony at all,” Lady confesses as she pours herself a glass of wine, having led you inside of her eclectic flat above the shop, which is furnished with all sorts of antiques and curios. “I cannot tell you how relieved I was when you chose to question her yourself. I loathe speaking with that woman even on the most casual basis. Such a tawdry, boorish strumpet... Then again, I was left with the pleasure of speaking with Mabel and she is no less vulgar.”
