Page 53 of Citrine

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Wroahk

She pauses, searching for an answer to my question. My eyes are drawn to her graspers, more fragile and breakable than mine, but I've felt them.

I know how they must be treasured now. Protected.

"Kind handscan't be won or taken, onlygiven," she tells me.

"Why?"

She lets out a long breath and speaks again. "Kindhandsmust be offered, not taken, otherwise you get violenthandsor if you're violent, you kill the possibility of there being akindanything. You can't just seek to own somebody if you want them to bekind. Trust me, if you'repatientandgentle, you will have more than if you try to take."

"So, yourkindhandscome at the cost of you endlessly talking?" I ask.

"Yes," she responds a little too eagerly, bobbing her head.

"I understand," I say, even though it would be much easier for me to simply claim my territory.

"It's adealthen," she says.

I stare blankly at her.

"Atrade?" she asks.

I keep staring at her, not understanding the words coming from her mouth. She reaches out a grasper to me, eagerly looking at my face. I would take it as a gesture to fight, but she is not a creature of violence.

"Not that either,huh?Dios. This should be interesting."

She continues splashing water with her graspers, her expressions shifting before she speaks again.

"It's anagreementwe have to make. I can't keep thinking you want to eat me every time you look bored, and you can't just hang around for no reason. Now that I think about it, you keep watching me like astalker. I should get arestraining orderagainst you."

She laughs that odd sound that doesn't sound like her normal self. It distracts me, but then I focus back on her words. I think I understand she wants me to stop watching her. No, I cannot do that. I know I won't keep myself away from her.

I peer at her. "What is theagreement?"

Her lips raise, I assume because she likes my question. "First, you've got to stop watching me all the time. It's like you're with me every second of the day. It makes it hard to do anything private."

"No. A Many Teeth would kill you."

"Many Teeth?" she asks, cocking her head to the side.

"The creature that attacked you."

"Oh… Well, they do have a lot of teeth. You do too…" her voice trails off as she stares at me.

"I am nothing like them."

"Fine,I know you're not," she clicks back, raising her graspers. "I'm just saying maybe that's not the best thing to call them. It might make them more irritable."

"I don't care."

"You look like you don't," she responds, her lips moving again in a way that doesn't seem natural.

"Still, it makes it hard to clean myself if you're constantly watching me."

I can't help spending most of the day thinking about her and therefore watching her. My eyes instantly find her, a need for her rising within me. I prefer to watch my prey, so nothing else steals it away or has the chance to.

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