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“I'm sorry, but I simply cannot make such an important decision without thinking it over properly first,” you announce, closing your fist around the silver ring, “So I'll have to leave you all in suspense.”
“How terrible!” Elle gasps with mock surprise, “I suppose we'll all have to find some way to cope. How about some food? I've always wanted to try cooking some food over an open fire, but I'll need a strong man to fetch some wood for a bonfire. Daniel, could you...”
“Oh, I'm not sure about that,” Daniel replies, flashing you a sly grin, “I think my cramp is acting up again.”
“I'll do it,” you tell her, feigning a sigh, “Just give me a minute to put some clothes on first.”
-
Going back and forth between the lake and the nearby forests, you slowly gather a hefty stack of firewood. When you're finally finished, Daniel helps to get a fairly large bonfire burning. Skewering sausages on long sticks, you take turns to try roasting them over the fire. More often than not, the sausages end up falling into the bonfire, but even these failures are met with good humour. Juno opens a bottle of rich, black wine that she brought, and glasses are filled.
At some point, emboldened by wine and suffering in the heat, Ariel strips off her uniform jacket to reveal a simple white undershirt. Without the armour of her uniform, she seems delicate and somehow awkward – as if unused to the shape of her own skin. You saw people like that at Coral House, boys on the cusp of becoming men. It'll pass – it always does. She might even fill out a little.
“What?” Ariel asks, her voice reminding you that you've been staring at her, “Something wrong?”
“I was just lost in thought,” you counter, “You should feel honoured that I chose to look in your direction while I did it.”
“Does that make me the chosen one, then?” she retorts, rolling her eyes, “Well, either way. I hope you weren't thinking about anything weird.”
“As if.”
-
Time passes, and the fire burns low. As it fades to the last embers, Elle rises to her feet with a yawn and wanders off towards the cottage. The sun has long since set, and the day's fatigue is starting to set in. She's not the only one who retreats to bed, and soon there's only two of you left sitting by the smouldering remains – Juno, and yourself.
Silence falls, save for the tiny gurgling sound as Juno pours the last of the wine into her glass. As the clouds above part, allowing a blade of silver moonlight to cut across the lake, you take the Teilhard ring from your pocket and examine it once more. The moonlight grants it a lustre that it didn't show by day, making it seem like so much more than a simple piece of costume jewellery.
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