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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2014 8:19:01 GMT
« Thread started on: Apr 30th, 2008, 6:07pm »
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April 29, 2008
2330
Pali wiped her brow and shook her head at the offer of water. She was spending all her days in the Warder's training school preparing for her Walk. The Council had been a bit hesitant, but the Prince had spoken up. He claimed that she was still of half royal decent and that allowed her to request the walk. He would support her decision to train, but if she failed, it would not be held against her House. She had set to the training harder than any of the other high blooded descendants in the school. Morning, noon and night she was running, practicing with steel or bow, and honing her magic of fire. She could start a cooking fire, create a small fire bird and even set the tip of her arrows aflame. But anything more still left her too drained to benefit from whatever magic she did.
As the servant walked away leaving the water near her hand, she sighed and resigned to take a small sip. She was trying to prove something she was sure was in her that no one else saw. Suddenly the words of talk echoed from the other side of the hedge where she was resting in her blade training. She held her breath as Fera'emar's name was mentioned.
Two voice, one male, one female, were talking and she stepped closer to the hedge to hear what was said. "Word is everyone is dead but no one will say HOW." The male voice spoke with sad resignation. “They don't know how? How can a man lose his protector and 50 Vanguard and no one understand?" The female seemed scared as if it whatever had killed the Protector and Vanguard was coming after her next. "He went cold. It's said his skin was covered in frost when they brought him back to the Keep. They were only supposed to scout the new opening in the hills, but something happened. And now they say he is lost to The Mind Frost." The male sounded sad and the female muttered something sympathetic before they both moved out of earshot.
How could it be? Ferae had gone to find out if the new stone opening in the hill was of the dwarves or of some new magic gone awry as so many other anomalies had cropped up in the last decades. "The Mind Frost?" She sat down on the wooden bench and shook her head. The promise pendant at her throat dangled in the sunlight. The royal crest set over that of a half bloomed rose was meant to be worn openly at all times. It marked her as one being courted by the Royal House and off limits to anyone else. It hadn't been used in centuries, but somehow Thor had known of it and reinstated it for 'his love'. He had made a public show of placing it on her and she was just grateful that Ferae had chosen to leave a day early and missed it. The Prince had meant it to be a surprise to her friend. But his early departure had foiled his brothers plans and saved Pali from the look on Ferae's face. But now she wanted to seek him out. To be there for him... but the pendant around her neck made her stand and begin the dance of her blade training once more. She feared what he would say. And feared what Thor would say to make it worse.
The mountains had reached out as far as the eye could see, he had found a fondness for those mountains, few things came from them that troubled the tranquility and peace of the area. The dwarves were easy enough to get along with and even traded when he came into the area, he thought they might be a good addition to the unification but was being fought on it, even his father seemed against it, which wasn't any different then usual as of the past years. Though as they camped that evening things went horribly wrong for the thoughts that weighed on his mind, a man he'd befriended and had grown to love as he loved all the men he rode with, often joking with them, had given him a letter he had been asked to give upon reaching the pass.
Within was a full dictation in legible hand of a law they once held of a token of the royal house, and the line ' Won't it look lovely upon Pali's neck', signed by his brother. The paper ignited within his hands as he read over it more and more, the men joking that it must have been a hot letter. He had given a light laugh to that as well, though soon they were upon them, a search party of some deformed beast, a strange sort that walked on hind legs. This last serving to explode the winters he'd always felt safest in, the remaining parchment within his fingers cracking as his eyes shimmered with a blue.
There were only 5 of these strange beasts, an easy but strange slay, though it didn't quench the cold, the blood of his own men soon pouring over his blade and fingers, the warmth of their blood only fueling his cold. He was shivering now, though sweating as he rounded upon his protector, the man's face ashen white as he saw the acts committed and the look on his lord's face. Though that look would be frozen upon the man as he was destroyed, his face growing blue upon the touch of Fera'emar, his lips crystallizing with the last breath of his being before the blade shattered his body. Fera'emar collapsed then, his convulsing shivers growing more and more violent upon the grounds. Darkness consumed him as did the frosts of winter, his mind recoiling from the words and from his own deeds that he felt more a witness to then the actual facilitating force. He felt he'd drown in the icy caps of the snows in his mind, until he accepted them and they found a home.
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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2014 8:19:34 GMT
« Reply #1 on: Apr 30th, 2008, 6:07pm »
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His eyes snapped open, the roaring fire within his chamber providing little warmth as of late, though they kept it almost to a point of a smithy's forge he felt little comfort in her flames. Throwing the blankets from his form he stretched, his eyes taking in the simplicity he'd strived to keep in his youth. The simply made nightstand, though it held carvings of roses and vine work it still lacked the golden inlay his brother and father seemed to find the fashion of nobility.
Checking that his sword was in place, he almost couldn't let go, his palm relishing more then his body in the cool of the silver inlaid leaves of it's hilt. Sighing he moved to the dressing table, his fingers caressing over the porcelain wash basin before dipping his hands within, cupping them to wash his face.
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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2014 8:20:45 GMT
« Reply #2 on: Apr 30th, 2008, 6:22pm »
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April 30, 2008
0003
She danced over and over till she felt she had it down. Then, moving to the next space in the maze, she found an opponent. This was how the Training Hedge worked. You skilled yourself then were pitted against another. Each station or clearing within the hedge held some other task one would need to survive on the Walk. Coming from solitary training left her weary and arms heavy. Coming upon an opponent now was something that could happen in the wilderness. A Tainted or a wild animal, a thief or an enemy could lay upon you when you were weakest. It was up to you to know how to draw from wells deep inside and fight off the fatigue long enough to win another victory, another moment of life.
She was in the middle or parrying a blow from her opponent when suddenly she heard a scream. It wasn't till she finished her spin and the assailant was gone that she realized the scream had fallen from her lips and her arm was gashed above her elbow on the back of her arm. He had won a strike, something in the wild that would have been a killing blow. He was gone and she had failed this round. She dropped her blade and her mind, unconsciously, thought of the one person her thoughts always turned to. Only she was unaware that this time, he was within hearing. * Of Fera'emar... how can something so small hurt so much? * She laughed to herself softly as she went to her knees then sat on her heels to catch her breath, one hand holding the bleeding wound, the other keeping her from fully collapsing onto the grass. It hurt terribly and she would get it bound but right now she let her scream of pain echo out from the hedge and over the training field. That scream held frustration at failure on the course, of being bound to Thor in ways she had no desire, and of losing the one friend she had in Ferae. If the Frost had taken his mind, she would never hear his stories or know sparring with him again. And that scream held it all and made the other occupants of the Hedge shiver in compassion and fear.
The scream stood him upright, his fingers upon his hilt and his eyes staring deep into the reflective glass of his mirror. His eyes had lost the blue flecks within them, though he still no longer recognized the man that stared out from it. He stared, caught by that doe eyed gaze, that man in the mirror so familiar, though so cold, so much nothingness in those eyes where once light had shown. He heard her voice within his mind, a voice he'd thought he had heard many a night in his travels. He thought now as he thought then that it was his wiser self guiding him with a voice of council, a voice that had helped him often in his youth. Closing his eyes he leaned heavily against the dressing table, his head hanging low over the wash basin, his bangs rippling the waters as they dipped within the clear crisp waters, ' It hurts the most when the those you were taught to love hurt you with the ones you hold dear' He thought back. He'd often carried on conversations with himself, someone had told him once it was a sign of insanty. Personally he felt this wasn't so, that if one could work things out in their mind, they could come to a better understanding of self and surroundings. Turning he made his way from the bedchamber, his fingers buttoning the last few silver buttons of his jacket as he rushed towards the sparring gardens, a pupil had been hurt, that had been the scream, if another such pupil had grown careless his haste could mean that youth's life.
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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2014 8:22:22 GMT
« Reply #3 on: Apr 30th, 2008, 6:22pm »
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She heard his voice and it startled her. The scream went suddenly silent as if the screamer's life had suddenly ended. A servant raced around the corner with two Vanguard at his heels. The vanguard, sent as personal bodyguards by Thor for Pali, had been ordered to remain outside the Hedge. They could not interfere with her training. But the cries had to be seen too. She turned nearly feral eyes to the Crown Prince's 'lap dogs' and half growled, "Get out of the Maze. This is no place to be defiled by His Highnesses Rumor Mongers." She then turned her back on them and heard the servant ushering them out assuring them it was normal, she was fine, there was nothing more to be done but let her be. Pali was grateful but gave it no other thought as she reached to the voice of Ferae thinking he had meant her betrayal with his brother. She wasn't thinking he meant his brothers betrayal with Pali. * But sometimes such wounds have a purpose. Does one not lay fire to a wound to seal it? Perhaps the betrayal is to cover something more serious... * She closed her eyes once more and then opened them to look at her arm. The bleeding was less, but would need stitching and binding. She was enraged it was her right arm. She only hoped nothing vital had been severed and her training would have to stop. She sat there wondering if Thor'vyr would be so bold as to set one of his own guard in the maze to harm her just enough to make her stop her training. He wouldn't dare harm her to kill her, that would defeat his purpose. Shaking her head she knew it couldn't be so.
The Hedge Guard were personally chosen by the mages. No one else was given access. It was merely because she was clumsy and allowed herself to be harmed. Her soft hiss of pain came as she once more covered the wound, still unwilling to rise and head back to the School for tending. It was quiet here save for the soft clink of steel on steel, wooden staves colliding and the ripples of magic as others went thru their own trainings around her.
Making his way from the double doors of the palace proper he stopped, he felt and heard her this time within his mind and more. Furrowing his brows his shook his head, that shouldn't surprise him, he'd always felt her proximity when they were young, somehow always found her hiding spots. She'd be here with her, betrothed, it shouldn't feel like this though. Reaching out almost absently he caught firm hold of a man's cloak as he tried to pass, the man had been trying to pass him. Looking down to the blade, it held blood on it's edge. Drawing his blade with his right he brought it slowly from his sheath as he thought and spoke as the snows began to fall within his mind, "The wounds will serve me, and I will not forget", the slice was swift, the blood spraying upon his cloak and jacket as he glared at the man, his right arm itching slightly though he couldn't say why. The man was one his brother's personal flunkies of the cycles, he'd often tried to get some of his own men to be warders though they'd always lacked the discipline. Dropping the man as he screamed in pain. He moved toward the gardens quicker, the mans sword ringing in the night as it fell from a useless arm, the tendons of the inner arm having been severed.
She was there as he approached, but her back to him did not give away her identity. She thought it was another servant, or perhaps more of the Vanguard come to see if the Prince's little gem was in need. Without thinking, her growl deepened and she knelt there but this time the words were shaking somewhat. The chill on he spine was warning enough. Someone behind her was enraged. The cold of their mind was unstoppable and she mis-thought that it was directed at her. Leaning down slowly as if she were going to use her wounded arm to push herself up from the grass, she rested her hand on her blade. If the Prince wanted her wounded badly, he would find a way. But she would not make it easy for him. Her words seemed demure but the determination in them was evident.
"You would do well to school your chill, warrior... for I can FEEL YOU!" She rose and lunged in the same motion, but as her autumn tresses cleared her vision she gasped and stopped dead a foot from Fera'emar's steady gaze. He has blood dripping from his blade and for one brief second it flashed that HE had been the one to harm her. But he couldn't be. Her opponent had not had his build. Her heart raced in her chest as the pendant caught up with her sudden motion and came to rest on her chest just below her throat. She had forgotten it in the moment of seeing her friend. Her words finished the thought she had directed at him a moment before. "Not all is as it seems, Ferae. I only hope the Frost will let you see..." The words this time were a whisper and the only sound then was the soft tapping of blood as it dripped from her now uncovered wound, down her arm and dagger, to finally drop on the emerald grass at her feet. Her eyes bore straight at him, unwavering as many had done since his return. And the look in them was one of warmth, comfort and invitation from the cold of his own mind and horrors.
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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2014 8:23:04 GMT
« Reply #4 on: Apr 30th, 2008, 6:22pm »
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Ferae saw the crouched figure, probably disappointed in having to go through so much just to go through it again. Though as it rounded upon him and showed an almost contempt in it's yell he remained still, only shifting his blade slightly to prepare for the strike. Though looking first to her eyes, then to the dagger he caught sight of who she was. Frozen there as she was, his eyes the only things that moved as he stood there, catching the glint of the pendant, then the dagger as it fell to her side, and finally to the blood that dripped upon the grass at her feet. Raising them back to her eyes he spoke, his words wavering slightly from lacking emotion to holding more then was proper, "Often first impressions are the truest Pali'shol si Nessa. The frost apparently has its... purpose in life." His last words only halted by a swallowing. Stepping slowly forward he sheathed his blade, his eyes looking down to the blood on the ground as he spoke, " The speed you bleed in could hinder your trials unless you get it taken care of outside the normal channels. Come." Turning he moved from the gardens, his gate was slow as he looked about for one of the servants, finding one of that was loyal to the family and not just his brother he spoke softly saying, " Inform my brother that Pali'shol si Nessa was called away from training by her father for the night. Make no mention of myself, is that clear?"
His words were cold, his brows slightly downward arched as he not only spoke the words but had ordered them, a first Pali would have witnessed from him, one that had always spoke a order as if it were a request easily turned down.
She swallowed as he spoke, fearing he would merely turn and leave her. But as he bid her follow, she did so in silence only picking up her blade in the second before her stride matched his, though was half step behind and to his right. She was wounded, but he was royal. Her life would always be shed before his. At least in her mind it would be. As he ordered the servant to boldly lie to Thor, she sighed. It was a weight from her that he would not know where she was, even if only for a short time. Once the servant ran off, she continued to follow him as they left the gardens and soon emerged behind the training school near the salle. She had practiced here in secret many a time and knew it well, but she knew not where he was leading her or why. Unable to sheath the bloody blade, she held it in her weak hand as her left once more gripped her upper arm to try and stop the blood flow. It was beginning to take its toll on her and her eyes swam a moment as they crossed out of the building's shade and sunlight assaulted her vision, but she dared not say anything. She was training for the Walk, her only escape from Thor'vyr. If she showed weakness now, he may convince the Council she needed to stop her training. She wouldn't allow that to happen.
Stopping he turned his head, looking over his shoulder to her. Turning quickly he grabbed her hand, his own encompassing her's as he sheathed her blade with it. Looking first to her eyes, his own flashed concern and worry for but the briefest of instances before growing distant once more. Looking this way and that before moving on towards the street and soon to an alleyway. Whispering as they approached a darker area, " hold a moment." He vanished around a small corner, with a little rustling in a bush before coming back bearing a key. Moving towards a door that looked to be the back of a store he slid it in and unlocked the door, “Come..." he said. His words held the slightest hint of concern, though it was hard to discern between the tones that tried to hide it. Moving within he struck a flint within a bowl, the oils within igniting to light a small room closed off from the actual store with a cot and a small bookshelf with a few books, everything was dusty and lacked that lived in feel. Motioning to the cot he went to a small chest on the bookshelf, lifting the lid he removed needle and thread along with a small bladed dagger. The dagger he laid within the bowl to heat it.
She gasped in pain but bit her lip before the sound issued forth as he grabbed and tugged her towards the alley. As he paused to open the door and usher her in, she followed willingly. Looking around she finally moved over near the cot but didn't sit. She did set her own now bloody dagger on the floor by the small bed. "Ferae..." her voice was not question or statement, merely as if stating his name to be sure this was real and not some dream. He was really there. She reached for his mind and tried to fill it with warmth as she shuddered with chill despite the warm weather and storeroom. * Ferae... what happened... have I lost you? * The concern in the words warm like a fire placed to an icicle. At the same time her heat burned his mind, the chill burned hers and she flinched and sat down hard as the bed caught her fall as she startled.
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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2014 8:23:53 GMT
« Reply #5 on: Apr 30th, 2008, 6:23pm »
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He worked at threading the needle, not raising his eyes to her as he spoke, half thinking the words in his mind had been spoken aloud. "No. No you have not lost me. I am here. Though .." His words stopped as he felt that warmth, it almost thawing as he fought hard to keep the chill, his words sounding as if they were a fight to say as his eyes filled with concern and concentration, " I, I'm not the man I once was..." Shaking his head as the needle finally caught the look he looked to her seated on the cot, his movements quick and determined like someone growing frustrated as he fought to keep the emotions away, keep the chill inside. " Let's get you looked at then we can talk" He was trying to keep matter of fact though in his words was slight pain.
"Neither of us is, mysthol ((sword friend))... neither of us is..." She let him settle to his heels before her and she relinquished her arm and did her best to wipe the blood away with the edge of her hand. "It's not as bad as it looks. They never really try to harm you. It's meant to be a lesson." She tried to sound convincing, but something in her made her doubt. "That's all." As he worked she studied the top of his head. His hair was longer and touched thru with steaks of white bordering on silver. The color of clean, clear ice as it freezes in crystals hanging from the trees. She almost reached out to touch him, to see if the frost in his mind and words reached his skin. But the sight of blood on her other hand made her rest it in her lap instead. As he worked she spoke. But the close proximity of him made her almost whisper. "What happened, Fera'emar? Are the rumors you are now a Sha'lol Sho'lae ((Walking Winter)) true? Has the frost touched you that deeply that there is no summer left in you?" She once more reached for his mind, though it was almost unconsciously. As if part of her knew he needed the warmth, even if neither of them were aware of it.
He worked the stitching as he was taught and as he'd done on himself in this very room more then once. Listening to her words as he worked the intricate thread working, he spoke, pinching the skin of her arm so as not to leave a large scar. " Would it be easier for you to hear yes? Would it bring closure to you as it seems to have the others?" Tieing off the suture he looked to her eyes. " In the winter, when the cold drops and the chill fills your body, you feel not pain, you feel not the hurt anymore, you only feel that it was done." His mind no longer fought to keep the chill, he allowed the warmth of her thoughts and his own for a moment as his eyes reddened around the wood of his eyes, " Why him? He is the worst of our kind and our ways"
Swallowing he shook his head slightly, his eyes looking to her's as he whispered, " Forgive me, that is none of my concern, you need not answer."
Forgetting the blood, she did reach to stay his hand as he seemed about to rise and part. For just a moment he had thawed. Just enough to let her know the Mind Frost had not truly claimed him completely. "It is... if it wasn't, it wouldn't weigh on your mind." She smiled at him then and it filled her eyes as she moved her arm. "You do good work. Perhaps I should set up my needlepoint wheel for you and give it to you as a birthing gift next winter." She laughed softly then sighed. "I did it because it's my only way to escape. He is bound by the agreement to let me train and take my Season's Walk before I agree to marriage." She rose then and went to the bowl that held the flame, her fingers dancing in and out of it as it spit and crackled on the blood on her skin. Her final words were soft and almost indiscernible. "No one says I have to return from them..." It was the only way. She had searched and searched for a way to get out of his marriage proposal. He had set her mother up with an estate of her own and servants befitting a widowed royal. And her own brother, Shadi, had been given full blood rights and joined the Vanguard training House. He would be allowed to guard any but the Crown Prince and King himself. It was an honor her twin would not have gained had she continued to spurn the Prince. Closing her eyes she leaned on the small table, her back to him. "It was the only way..." was all she whispered.
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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2014 8:25:02 GMT
« Reply #6 on: Apr 30th, 2008, 6:23pm »
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Silently he listened and watched, and as he listened, and saw the pain that was inflicted upon her by his brother he grew colder. His mind was no longer simply winter, it grew to a tundra, a frosting and freezing so deep and thick 5 summer lengths would have only touched its surface. Reaching for the dagger within the bowl he whispered softly with the last bit of emotion he could bare before it too was frozen, "You will have what you want Pali... and nothing you do not." His next words after the briefest of pauses held no feeling, very fingers as they gripped her arm felt as if he'd placed them within a cold stream for hours, " This will hurt, but it will aid you in what you want and allow you to keep training." The dagger's blade was placed to the wound, not to melt suture but to seal the wound, allowing neither the stitches to break by movement nor infection to set in, though the pain would be severe. His fingers moved then to the necklace, pulling it away from now shaking flesh as he let the dagger strip the banded cord of it, he let the dagger drop to the floor then as out he strode into the alley.
She felt his hand on her arm as his other hand retrieved the dagger from under her dancing digits over the flame as it was extinguished. As the blade pressed to her flesh, the ice of his pain and the heat of her own melded together and steam actually rose from her arm as her scream cried out then was bit short and her free hand gripped the table to keep from wavering as her knees threatened to buckle. "FERAE!" She bit off suddenly as the pain hit. But then it was done and the clink of the blade on the floor was all she remembered before his back disappeared out the door. She didn't notice the missing necklace yet. She only knew he was leaving and she hadn't thanked him.
The Frost was in him, she felt it in his final touch. But the fact there had been steam meant she could still reach him. He was not lost to her completely. As she gathered her thoughts and picked up the two daggers she went to the door just as he rounded the corner towards the palace. She locked the room's door and pocketed the key and went after him only to round the corner and find him gone. She was sure he had left because his 'duty' to her was done. She reached for his mind and placed as much warmth into her words as she could. * Thank you, Ferae... thank you. * Heading back to the Training School she wondered how things would fair at dinner tonight when she once more sat across from Thor'vyr and explained the reason for her scar, or choice of long sleeves in the warm weather. She sighed and headed back to the school ignoring the stares as others looked at her blood arms, hands and clothes.
The winds gusted suddenly throughout the palace grounds, the double doors into the palace proper slamming hard enough to shatter the glass pains within them. His steps carried him swiftly up the steps, his shoulder slamming into a student who didn't move quick enough causing the youth to sprawl upon the stairs. The youth thought it odd, this disregard for another that was never the way he had seen the prince before. Though as he picked himself up and brushed himself off he heard the words, " Everyone out" come from the library overhead where he'd went at summons of Prince Thor'vyr, "Not you Thor'vyr, close the door behind you councilor."
The doors were shut and the elder man moved down with the same haste as Ferae had moved up them, the man bustling through the gardens towards the master of winter, " Prince Fera'emar is in with Prince Thor'vyr, we need guards of the highest caliber now! He'll kill him if that look in his eyes is any suggestion as to his intent!" Maids and servants rushed not shouting through the palace as from within the library things sounded to be slamming into things and screams for help could be heard from Thor'vyr, Frost was tainting the glass of the library and one of the students who'd looked up to the shouts started, saying something to the others in a loud tone, " Frost in summer! Bad omen!"
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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2014 8:27:00 GMT
« Reply #7 on: Apr 30th, 2008, 6:24pm »
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Pali was nearly to the training yard of the school when the feel of cold deathly winter chilled her mind. FERAE! She spun on her heels and raced for the palace hoping she wasn't too late. She tried to reach his mind but the shield of ice was too much while she concentrated running. The bustling of guards as she raced thru the courtyard was evident. She stopped a serving woman and asked what was happening. "Lord Fera'emar and Prince Thor'vyr are in the royal library and fighting. It is said the Lordling went there to kill his brother!" The woman ran off and Pali growled. She knew Ferae wouldn't risk killing his own flesh and blood. But she also knew there were a lot of things the Brothers of the Seasons could endure from one another and not perish from. She raced up the steps as the the guards below in the courtyard finally managed to rally. She would get there first so she had to think fast or something terrible would happen.
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