When I wake up I find the sunlight streaking through the small, slender windows set high up into the walls of this little room is bright, warm and clean, and spilling through at a particularly high angle, telling me I’ve managed to sleep in. I roll over slowly, stretching as much as space will allow, bringing my arms up over my head so I can lace my fingers together and let my shoulders flex a bit. While I’m doing this I straighten out my legs and point my toes like those ballet dancers we saw that time my father took me to the Opera House in Bavat. All the time I’m arching my back, and I can’t help letting a contented little purr escape as I smile. At least for a few moments I can forget the awful things that happened a few days ago, and the unpleasant aftermath I’ve been dealing with since. But now I remember and I slump down slack on the mattress again, and as I bring my arms back under the blankets, comforter and throw I pull it all right up to just over my chin and start to bury myself underneath all this warm, cosy fabric again. Trying to claw back a little of that ignorant contentedness I manage to wake up with.
Then I hear a vague, slightly whiney snuffle from the other side of the bed and the body I’ve been sharing the bed with for the last three days stirs. I carefully shift myself so I can roll over onto my other side without disturbing her, and let go a little sigh as I wait for Shay to fully emerge from her lengthy slumber.
One last little shift and she finally slumps over onto her side facing me, and for a long moment she just lies there, looking surprisingly serene. I don’t do anything, I don’t want to disturb her, when she finally wakes up I want it to be on her own terms, in her own time, and I can sense that’s now pretty imminent. So I just wait, and while I do it, I try to enjoy what’s left of this comfortable lazy morning.
That first night back … Minerva, that was … it was … horrible. When I ran to check on Kesla and found her laid out, face down in the mud with barely enough clear for her not to just drown right away, that was bad, but while she was really badly beaten up she was stable. I was fully prepared to help her until she mentioned Shay, telling me how badly she was hurt, and … I owe her. She saved my life, up there in the mountains in the Norther Reaches, after Ashsong ran his fancy enchanted sword through me and I died, Shay sacrificed a substantial amount of her own lifeforce to help Krakka bring me back from the unknowable darkness of … whatever comes next. I didn’t even think about what I was doing, I just ran straight to her.
It was … gods, there was a lot of blood. The wound was in her abdomen, Shay was clutching tight but with shaking hands and there was blood coming through her fingers all the same, half of her shirt was completely saturated with it despite the torrential rain. She was so pale, she might have been sweating too but there was no way to tell with the weather, and her jaw was clenched tighter than I’d ever seen it before, her breath coming fast and hard through her nose as her eyes were narrowed against the pain. She was still lucid, but … she was hurt, clearly, she was in a spectacular amount of pain, but worse, she knew this was bad. I don’t know a whole lot about the human body, but I’ve learned enough in my time to know that a stomach wound like this one … even with quick care, she was likely to die.
So I dropped on my knees right in the mud, gripped my staff tight in one hand while I put my other arm under Shay’s back to shift her up into a shallow sitting position, pressing her close to me even as she spat and cursed and squirmed at the fresh pain from the movement … and I spoke the incantation to port us both back to the Temple of Minerva in the Gods’ Round. Suddenly we went from the constant soaking pelt of torrential rain to the sudden emptiness of still air, the subtle warmth and cleanliness and calm, collected quiet of the clean white and silver expanse of the main entrance vestibule, and I just started screaming. Over and over, howling for help at the top of my lungs while I cradled my sodden, bloody, shaking friend close to me, my staff long forgotten on the suddenly rain-and-blood splashed floor beside me.
Help came quickly, the temple staff are nothing if not efficient, even in the growing evening, and I guess I wasn’t really surprised to see Shul Mivzida, the half-hob wizard, at the head of the group that rushed to our aid. No matter where she was in the temple, I imagine she just ported straight to wherever she homed in on my cries for help, I suspect it’s just the way she’s made. She has to help, she can’t stop herself. When she stepped into view and saw us her ubiquitous little frown tightened a touch and she set her jaw while she clenched her little fists at her sides and stalked over. One quick, cursory look at Shay, not even needing to examine the wound, clearly told her everything she needed to know, because she immediately started barking orders to the gathering attendants and clerics. Hustling like my friend’s life depended on it, which of course it did.
Ultimately the most expedient course of action was deduced and Shul just dispatched most of those attending to us off before bringing two of the clerics along with her to Shay’s side before making them both lay hands on my back while she gripped Shay’s shoulder. Then she ported us all straight into the infirmary and immediately made the three of us manhandle Shay, once again screaming and squirming from the disturbance, onto the nearest care bed. Then she finally set about her examination.
I refused to leave her side the whole time. It took them five hours to sufficiently repair the damage inflicted by what was clearly a nasty, brutish weapon, not only to the flesh in her belly but, far more worrying, her intestines beneath, which had indeed been ripped open, just as Shul feared. To her educated and magically enhanced eye, the infection was already setting into her blood, the slow, horribly painful death I knew my friend dreaded, and that was the reason for the intensity of their subsequent healing work. Shul tried to usher me away from her side, but I flat refused, I think I even screamed at her, I can’t believe how angry I got all of a sudden at the very suggestion.
No, I just stayed where I was, gripping her hand tight enough a small part of me feared I might break it but I couldn’t let go. Just willing my help to her as two of Minerva’s clerics poured all of their goddess’ blessings they could into my friend, while a third cleric worked her own healing magic upon the extensive wound itself. All while Shul concentrated on using her own magic to draw out the infection before it could take root too deep and make everything they were doing tragically pointless …
When Tulen arrived with Art shortly after I’ll admit I barely even noticed. I didn’t even learn he’d been so badly hurt until the next morning, and when I heard I instantly hated myself for being so bullheadedly focused on Shay. I didn’t really acknowledge anything outside this tightly focused operation until Kesla finally came hobbling in an hour after the mending of the wound was finally done, dropping into a chair nearby with such pained exhaustion that I actually took notice. We just looked at one another for a long time, I couldn’t begin to work out how long we watched each other before she finally managed to find the words and the energy to speak.
“How … how bad is it?” Her voice was so painfully quiet, it hurt my heart a little to hear it.
“It’s bad. Really, really bad. We still don’t even know for sure that this will work.”
“Well it better. After what we just went through it fucking better.” There was no venom in her words, not even really any anger at all, she said it with an almost entirely flat tone that spoke volumes about just how tired and fundamentally broken she was in that moment. And that was all she said on the matter. For the rest of the night she just sat in that chair, watching them tend to Art as she gripped her own wounded ribs, keeping up the vigil just like I did.
Sometime in the small hours of the following day the healing spells were finally completed and Shul assured us the worst of the infection had been beaten back, but it was going to be a while before she was right again. Over the next day, after we’d moved Shay into this room in the temple’s dormitories to recover, Shul repeatedly worked her spell to fight off the rest of the infection. At first she was just preventing it from springing back up and taking root again, then finally she burned it out of her entirely, and then it was done. After that it was just a matter of letting her sleep and waiting for her to finish recovering all on her own.
They made a room up for me, just as they did for the rest of the party, but I haven’t been to it once since we came back. I’ve slept here the whole time, only going out to use the facilities and fetch my food before bringing it right back to eat it here while I watched my friend. I’ve spent my time reading my spellbooks, practicing newer spells to make sure I can finally master them, or just lying beside Shay as she continued to sleep. Every once in a while she’d shift, making the odd noise that suggested she might finally be waking up, but so far she hasn’t. I’ve kept up my own vigil all the same, though.
Art first came to visit yesterday, once he was finally able to start moving around again, and it was a very awkward half hour for me, given how completely absent I’d been during his own recovery. It might have gone on if he hadn’t made it thoroughly clear throughout the visit that he didn’t care at all about any of that, he understood. “Shay got it way worse’n me. You done right, luv. Keep it up, I say.” He kept on reassuring me during the whole visit that he didn’t harbour any ill feelings about me seeming to ignore his own injuries, so by the time he left I was almost feeling all right about that myself too.
So when he came back again later in the afternoon I was actually happy to see him. I put my book aside and we just started talking, and it was really nice. We just hung out, as he would put it, talking about the same kind of seemingly inconsequential nonsense we always seem to get to talking about when we have downtime together, but he also started asking deeper questions too. Asking me about parts of my past he’d so far neglected to address. I indulged him in everything, not least because he was very sweet and respectful about it, never pried into anything I wasn’t comfortable talking about.
Then where it came time for dinner he just waved me down and went to get it himself, and when he brought the food back we ate it together in the room while Shay slept on nearby. And we kept on talking, into the early hours, before I finally fell asleep. I woke up a little later to find he’d gone at last, and so I just got into bed again with Shay like I had the night before and went to sleep proper. In the end it was a really nice day, I decided – Art and I learned more about each other in one afternoon and evening than we have in the seven months we’ve known each other before now …
Shay stirs one final time, rolling her shoulders a bit as she shifts, and for a moment I think she might roll over again. Then she purses her lips for a moment before letting out a blustery little sigh, groaning subtly as she starts to stretch a little, her brow furrowing now as her eyes screw a little tighter shut. Now her eyelids are starting to flutter … then they finally open.
It’s only a little, her eyes remain heavily lidded as they move around for a moment, taking time to actually focus before they finally fix on my own. For a long, drawn out moment we just look at each other, lying here face to face, and I have no idea what’s going through her head right now. Then her lips part, and she lets out a little sigh as she closes her eyes again. But only for a moment. She purrs a little, not so much contentment than just a non-committal inward vocalisation, then looks up at me again. “Oh.”
Wow … I can’t help it, that just makes me giggle. There’s no way I can control it, I just start giggling and I can’t stop it, I must lie here for a good minute before I can finally get a handle on it and force myself back under control again. The whole time Shay just lies there watching me, a gentle smile slowly forming across her pretty lips. Finally I manage to suck in a good breath and let it out in a relatively easy sigh. “You idiot.”
“Yeah, I’d say that’s about right. That didn’t go at all the way I’d hoped it would.”
“You’re lucky to be alive, Shay. Whatever … whatever that was, what happened to you … if it hadn’t been for Minerva you’d be dead.”
“I’ll have to go thank her as soon as I’m up and about, then. It’s a good thing we’re in the temple.” She starts to frown as she turns her head enough to start taking in the room. “We are in the temple, I imagine. It certainly has that look.”
“There’s a lot to it, yes. We are still in the temple.”
“Okay.” She nods, and her eyelids start to droop again, not enough that she’s definitely going to fall asleep, but she’s definitely relaxing. Then she stiffens, eyes widening very quickly. “Oh, gods, yes … of course. Did we … is everybody … we didn’t lose anyone, did we?” She suddenly looks so desperate, her eyes searching mine with real urgency now.
“No, we didn’t, everyone else is good. Kesla got a bit battered, and Dumoli took some nasty wounds too, not so bad as yours but it wasn’t good for him either.”
“How about Art? I saw him, he was all broken up, is he all right?”
“Pretty much, yes. Krakka and a few of the other clerics took a while working on him but he’s just about his old self again, at last. Which means he’s damned near insufferable.” I can’t help smiling a little as I say it, and Shay returns a gentle chuckle.
“Gods … I’m glad.” she finally breathes “That already had me rattled before I even got into that fight with Vandryss. Tulen as well, I noticed. I practically had to shove her into your crazy magic battle with that wizard.”
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I remember that, Tulen did somewhat seem to come out of nowhere, but it was at just the right time. That woman was … whoever she is, she’s very powerful. It was all I could do to put myself on an equal footing with her, and the longer we fought the worse it was getting for everyone around us. Even when I had Tulen backing me up, she still damn near fought us to a standstill.
“Thank you for that. I did need her.”
“You know you never have to thank me. I was just looking out for you.”
For a moment or two I’m lost for words, I genuinely am. The way she looks at me so softly, it’s so sweet, there isn’t the slightest implication she did any of it out of any sense of obligation she might feel. She just cared. And she still does … I reach up carefully and very gently stroke the backs of my fingers across her face. Shay closes her eyes as I do it, before reaching up and taking my hand. When she opens her eyes again she just watches me, and we just lie there for a little while, just holding hands and enjoying each other’s company.
“This is very nice.” Shay finally says “The bed, I mean. It’s surprisingly roomy considering we’re both in it. Soft too, but not too much. I would’ve expected a temple’s dorms to be a bit more spare than this.”
“Well there are two different dormitories, one’s for staff while the other one’s set aside for guests. That’s where we are.” I shrug. “But from what I can tell, the staff aren’t much worse off than this. The Order looks after their own, so since at least half the staff in your typical temple of Minerva are Silver Order they have very high standards.”
Shay’s smile grows. “Yeah, well suppose I can’t really see that Saxiros fellow staying in a poky little cell with roommates, so that makes sense.”
I have to nod along with that. “Very true.”
Shay grows quiet again for a little while, but she seems to be just relaxing now. Finally shifts a little, letting go of my hand, and moves around so she can roll onto her back, looking up at the ceiling now. “So … I saw some of what happened there, after I got stabbed. Kesla was … well, she fought hard, but Vandryss is a bloody demon. I swear. I saw her run that bastard sword of hers clean through her and she just shrugged it off.”
A chill runs right through me hearing that. I shift a little too, finally propping myself up on my elbow so I can look down at her. “Minerva … that didn’t kill her? Was it … did she miss the heart?”
“Sure didn’t look like it.” Shay looks up at me, and while she’s mostly just thoughtful, there’s maybe a hint of … I wouldn’t say fear, but definitely a clear edge of healthy caution now. “To be honest, I don’t know what to think about it. Everything about her was just off. She moves wrong, she’s too fast, too agile. I mean sure, perhaps that means she has some elf blood in her like us, but even then it’s more than just … something. Shrugging off getting stabbed through the heart, though?” She looks at the ceiling again. “Meanwhile I had to be an idiot and forget to guard myself with one blade while I forgot she had two. You’re right, I should be dead.”
“Well I’m bloody glad you’re not, you complete idiot.” I don’t bother trying to keep the edge out of my admonishment now, I want her to hear how upset I might be about even having to think about it. “If you’re going to start giving me a hard time about not being more careful when I’m fighting, I’m definitely going to return the favour in times like this.”
Looking up at me now, Shay genuinely looks a little surprised, probably to hear me talking about it so honestly. Finally she shifts herself again and starts trying to sit up. I start to lean forward to help her but she just shakes her head, and as she starts to groan and fumble forcing herself up after three whole days of lying down I just sit up myself, drawing my legs up under me as I let the covers drop around my waist. She finally makes it up but it clearly takes some work, and when she finally does she spends a long moment a little doubled over as she probes where the wound was, breathing a little heavy.
When she looks up, though, she actually mostly seems a little surprised. “Damn … those healers really know they’re stuff. Feels like I never even got hurt.”
“Yes, well you’ll still have quite the scar, but then you mercenary types seem to like it.” I find myself looking down at my fingers now, and when I look up again I notice Shay doing the same. “Personally, I’d rather not have these.”
Shay looks into my eyes for a good, long moment, thoughtful now, maybe a touch wistful. “Sometimes a good reminder can be a huge benefit. Do you know what they say about mistakes? The number one rule, if you will.”
Frowning, I consider for a moment. “I don’t do so well with philosophy. My marks were never that high in that particular class. I was always glad it never had a major bearing on the finals.”
She laughs at that, leaning in to give me a little nudge with her shoulder. “You pillock. No, look … my da always taught me that mistakes were important, because even though they could have really bad results sometimes, there was still good in them because they help you learn. He said that those who don’t learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.”
I watch her for a long moment as that sinks in. That’s some damn smart thinking, actually. Every time Shay tells me anything about her father, the mysterious elven warrior Errelim Ivystone, I grow more fascinated by what I learn. “That’s very profound, actually.”
“Damn straight.” Shay reaches out and takes my hand, gently raising it so she can show the scars from Ashsong’s sword on my fingers to me. “These are a reminder for you, every time you see them they tell you what you did wrong, but also what you did right that helped us win. I messed up the other night, and it cost me, like when you fought Ashsong. And now I have something to remind me of what I did wrong, so I don’t let it happen again.”
I look down at the scars for a few more moments, feeling conflicted. Then Shay reaches out and wraps me up in her arms, and I slowly return her hug, closing my eyes as I let my head rest on her shoulder. I feel her breath, warm on my crown, and just hold on, contented to stay like this for a while yet. It’s almost disappointing when she finally lets go and I let her pull away from me again.
“Thank you.” she says at last, head down now but still looking up at me through her lashes. So very coy now.
“You’re my friend. I know you’d do the same for me.” I have to chuckle a little at the thought, actually, now I realise. “Fuck, Shay … you did do that for me already.”
She looks up all the way again now, cocking her head a little as she thinks about it. “You’re right.” She nods, smiling a little too. “But I’d still do it again. Anytime. I love you very much, Gael Foxtail. You’re the best friend I’ve had in a very long time.”
Gods … I honestly don’t quite know what to say to that. Shay chews on her bottom lip now, just a little, clearly now very self-conscious about what she’s just revealed. But … I have to admit, I feel exactly the same about her. I guess I love her too. So I reach out, taking her face between my hands, and lean forward so I can kiss her on the cheek before laying my forehead against hers. “Yeah, well … same here, you great daft pillock.”
That has her grinning, and she hugs me again, more casually but it still feels nice returning it. Then her stomach chooses that exact moment to make a particularly long, mournful gurgle, and we both spring apart, a little surprised. She looks down at her belly, then back up at me, a little sheepish now. “Wow … how long have I been down?”
“Three days.”
Her eyes go wide. “Three … bloody hell. No wonder I’m so fucking hungry.”
“Yes, well food would definitely be the way to go.” I frown a little. “And a wash, perhaps. They have some really nice baths here.”
“They do?” Shay’s brows shoot right up now. “How big is this place?”
Grinning again, I lean back onto my hands, stretching my back a little. “Mmmm … bigger than you’d think. Remember the library? It’s magic. We can do interesting things with architecture.”
Shay considers it for a moment, then shrugs, smiling a little again. Then she looks down at herself, realising how dressed down she is now. Like me she’s stripped down to the very basic layers, just a nightshirt and a pair of drawers to protect her modesty now. As her frown returns she takes a tentative sniff under the collar, then another at her armpit, and makes a face. “Oof … yeah, you’re right. A wash would be good. But first I need food. I’m starving.” Then her frown deepens. “But first … maybe a piss. Looks like you’re right, I really must have been out of it for days …”
“Good point.” I’m starting to feel a little full myself now … throwing the covers off on my side, I swing my legs out and settle my feet into the thick carpet before finally pushing myself upright. “You should come with me.”
As I collect one of the warm flannel robes from the rack on the back wall, Shay swings her own legs out, then pauses on the edge of the bed, sitting forward for a long moment. For a moment or two she’s probing her side again, then she reaches to her shoulder, where the new tattoo is. “Huh … well that’s just …” I can’t see her face from this angle, but I see her stiffen all the same. “Wait … no, please …”
For a moment I think she might be undergoing some kind of crisis I can’t begin to fathom as she starts to claw about under her collar, but then I realise she’s simply trying to check under the nightshirt. The tattoo … she’s worried about the tattoo, because of course it’s not sore or itchy anymore. I can’t help my sigh of relief as I almost gasp the words: “Shay, it’s all right. Your tattoo should be fine. It’s just healed.”
“But … but how the hell did it …” She pauses, taking a deep breath before shifting her shoulder a little while she tries moving the collar aside with a little more care. Finally she’s able to get a proper peak at the edge of it at least, and so do I … yes, much as I expected, it’s all there, and the subtle redness and slightly swollen raised lines are now gone, while it looks like she’s bypassed the scabbing process entirely. What she has there now is just the finished tattoo in its pristine artistic glory.
Turning to look at me now, she looks thoroughly nonplussed. “What the hell? I though you said it was just three days.”
“It’s magic, Shay.” I pull the robe on, but leave it open for now. “They poured a lot of healing magic into you, they had to, as much for the infection as to repair the damage. So of course it bled over to your tattoo.” I shrug. “Look at it this way, no more discomfort. I remember you really weren’t enjoying the pain after we left the shop.”
“Yes, well that I can do without, the itching too, I suppose I’m glad I missed that …” She keeps frowning. “It’s just a little … I don’t know if I like that the magic just … did something with my body that wasn’t even intended.”
“Yes, well that’s the thing about magic.” I check through the other robes, finally selecting one I imagine should fit her nicely. She’s taller than me, but not that much broader across the shoulders, so it’s not too hard. “It does what it wants, even when we try to pin it down with limits and mechanisms. But it still has rules, at least in a very broad sense, and what they used on you was entirely benevolent magic, so there was no danger of it doing any harm to you while it was fixing you. In the end that’s just …” I shrug as I make my way around the bed to reach her. “An interesting side effect.”
Pondering on it for a moment longer, Shay finally shrugs again. “Fair enough. Just so long as I’m not a bloody virgin again I can live with it.”
I have to laugh again at that. “I highly doubt it.”
“Good.” She pushes herself up off the bed and gets her legs under her, but it clearly takes some effort. She grunts as she tries to straighten up, and her legs are very wobbly, bad enough that her knees give a little before she’s all the way up and I have to spring forward in time to catch her before she goes down again. She grabs hold of me too, genuinely a little spooked, and for a moment she’s left breathing fast and hard as I prop her up. Then she finally takes a deeper breath and pushes herself away from me, trying to stand on her own again, and this time it seems to work out better. “Oh … this isn’t fun, Gael. I haven’t felt this shitty since …” She sighs. “Ah shit … since I helped bring you back.”
“You’ll be all right.” I take a very cautious step back from her, still ready in case her legs decide to betray her again, but I think she’s safe enough now. “I was all right enough after a few days, and I died. I’m sure you can bounce back quicker than that.” I pass her the robe.
“Wow, this is …” Shay holds it out in front of her, opening it out so she can give it a proper look over. “This is nice. I don’t know if I can wear this, it’s too fancy.”
“Well it’s yours regardless, so you might as well.” I start to cinch the sash about my waist now, giving it the tradition two turns around before I finally start to tie it off. I do it slowly, exaggerating my motions somewhat so Shay can see what I’m doing.
“What?” Her eyes go wide again. “Are you serious? How … surely that’s not right …”
“Compliments of the Order. Everything in this room technically belongs to you, so …”
“Except you, of course.” A smile starts to touch her lips as she relaxes again, and it’s quite sly. She starts to pull the robe on now.
I start blushing immediately. “I don’t … no, we’re just friends, aren’t we?”
Shay’s smile broadens into a gleeful grin and she gives a bubbly little chuckle. “It was a joke, you dope. I mean, you are very pretty, I would definitely be interested, but …” She keeps grinning when she sees the face I must be making, and gives my shoulder a gentle thump. “Dummy. I’m just messing with you. Besides, I know you’re already spoken for.”
Now that one really has me stumped, I try to work out if she’s still joking or actually serious now as she finally closes the robe and starts looping the sash around her waist like I did before. I’m left floundering for a few moments as she starts trying to work out the particulars of the knot. “No … wait, no. I don’t have … there’s nobody that I’m … what the hell are you talking about?”
Finally she just gives up and ties a simple bow. Throwing her hands up vaguely, she gives me a long, hard stare, all her humour gone now, seemingly in an instant, which takes me somewhat by surprise. I can’t say I’m particularly comfortable being regarded with that look. “Gael, come on. How are you still this clueless?”
“I don’t get it. It’s not a funny joke, Shay. You’re supposed to be able to understand the punchline.”
Shay looks at me for another loaded moment, then throws her hands up in the air again. “Freya, please, how are you still not getting it?”
I’m about to try answering back, even though I don’t know what I’m actually going to say, when there’s a knock at the door. Shay cocks a brow, but I just give her a harsh look as I push past her, stepping across the inexplicably warm carpet that gently tickles my bare feet. Stopping short of the door, I take a breath. “Who is it?”
“It’s a handsome prince on a big white charger.” Art’s cocky voice comes through the door with surprising clarity given that everything here is specifically designed and enchanted to deaden as much outside ambient sound as possible to facilitate a comfortable slumber. Then again, I want to hear the answer, so I can. Magic can be a bit of a brainteaser sometimes, I’m still finding. “Who d’you think it is, genius?”
When I look back at Shay her sly smile’s returned, and she starts moving towards me with a surprising amount of her old, silken dancer’s grace again. “How is it the old saying goes?”
Frowning, I find myself floundering again. “I … what?”
“Oh yes. Speak a demon’s name and it’s apt to appear.” Her grin widens.
The stare I give her must remain pretty blank since I still don’t know what she’s getting at. “Whatever it is, I really don’t care anymore.”
“Hey, I’m still here, y’know.” Art nags from the other side of the door “You coming out anytime today or not? I figured maybe you wanted to actually eat a meal outside this room for once.”
“He has a point, you know.” Shay sighs, clearly letting it go now as she steps up beside me. “I’m hungry, and I’m dying for a piss. Can we just get out of here already?”