The golden strings still hang in the trees when we arrive. Rampion sits at the round table in the ridiculous bear suit. He raises his head and the black and hollow eyes of fabric stare right at us. I cannot see what hides behind the costume, but I can feel the same exhausted and tired feeling that I felt the first time I saw him. It feels like heavy clouds hang over his shoulder.

Sun lays down the sticks with the disgusting dango-looking dishes on the table. He raises a large paw in thanks.

"You know how I feel about company," Rampion says.

Sun turns to me still smiling. "He doesn't like an audience when he eats."

"Both of you can go to hell," he mutters.

"We're there already... technically," I say.

It supposed to be a joke, but it doesn't sound very funny when I say it out loud. I've never believed in hell – or heaven for that matter. But this is after all the realm of the dead as Cerberus had called it.

Rampion lays the large paws on the table. "It sure as hell feels like it."

I want to say something, but it wouldn't change anything. He'd still be trapped in all eternity in a fur-clad cage. My words would only serve as a grim reminder, one that came from my own privileged pity for him.

Sun pushes one of the sticks closer to Rampion. "I don't think Orchid cares about how you eat, isn't that right?"

"I don't."

Rampion stares at me, like he's trying to figure out what kind of person I am. I feel guilty that I almost laughed at him when I first saw him.

Rampion makes an annoyed gesture with his paw. He pulls up the over-sized head so his mouth, nose and bottom of his eyes are visible. He pushes the chin of the head against his forehead, so it stays in place and touches his head. He must have learned the rules of what counts and what he can do to keep the artificial head from magically putting itself in place again. He tries to grab one of the sticks with the free gigantic paw.

"Do you need help?" Sun asks.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Considering the smile on her lips I doubt she actually want to help him.

"Lay off," he says and gets a firm grip on the stick. "Are you going to tell me why you brought someone here or will both of you just stand there and gawk?"

He carefully moves the stick closer to his mouth.

"You saw Clover by the well," I say.

Rampion turns his head slowly towards me. I can barely see his eyes but they look relatively dark. He's skin is white but slightly tanned. It looks like he's frowning his nose while his mouth is tense.

"You told Clover's apprentice?"

Rampion laughs bitterly and loses the grip around the stick. It hits the edge of the table again. He quietly curses.

"I thought she might want to know."

Lie. She had come to me to know if I knew anything. She has the same blank look as usual, this time she's not smiling.

He tries to get a steady grip around the stick again. "Yes, I saw him."

"What did he do there?"

It doesn't feel right to ask. I'm getting into deep water – all too deep.

Rampion scoffs and gets another grip around the stick. "The thing with Clover is that he's not exactly honest. Loyal like a fool of a dog, but that doesn't stop him from lying or twist the truth when he thinks it's needed."

He bites into the round dish impaled on the stick. The inside is coal black. It doesn't take long until he starts coughing and places the stick on the table.

I know how disgusting they are and how they burn every inch of your mouth. I can almost feel it when he coughs so much that I for a moment think he'll throw up. He loses his grip on the bear head and it falls back into place. He lets it be there and coughs a few more times before he gets control over it.

"What did he say?" I ask.

"What do you think?"

The voice sounds muffled now when the head is in place again. I imagine him rolling his eyes under the hollow rings.

"What he said doesn't matter," says Sun.

"True." Rampion lays his paws on top of the table. "What matter is what I saw. Have you've ever been to the well before?"

"I have."

"Then you know that you are like an open book in that foul air. I'm guess I'm lucky for once." He points at the gigantic head with a bitter laugh. "Well, when I saw him everything was written on his face. Insecurity, hesitation, and some burden he carried. Whatever he was so damn upset over I don't know. When I asked what he was doing there I saw the panic in his eyes. Whatever it was, he didn't want anyone to see him."

I move my mouth and tongue as I feel a dryness sneaking upon it.

"Most keep away from the well. I hadn't expected to see anyone else there. And with Clover's reaction he hadn't expected to see me either."

Sun has the empty smile on her lips once again. She lowers her head a bit. "Does that tell you anything?"

"No, it doesn't."

"That's too bad."

Rampion shrugs. "I hadn't expected that she'd known anything, Sun."

"It was worth a try," she sighs.

No matter what Clover had done at the well it was clear he didn't want anyone to know. Rampion had seen it, these emotions in his face that worried me. I cannot figure out what it could mean. Or what he has done.

I think of Cerberus' words once again.