That was their queue to stand together, Cutty pulled himself straight up out of his leaning and without resistance, pulled up to Fern's side and held out his arm. The boy's mind was chiming, whistling and thumping in an intricate pattern not unlike that of a gamelan, that instrumental ensemble so complex it often took twelve whole people to play it. There are three people here, and only two of them had mistakenly stepped into the instrument.


Surely, it must have been a mistake.


His expression turned towards ...well, maybe it was a hope-ridden smile as he took up Fern's hand and gazed at her as though she were the only girl in the Great Hall (maybe even, the world).