And yep he is sure gonna go do that thing. He brings the lamp. And the book. He can't read while he dances but maybe he'll pick it up once he's danced himself to exhaustion.

Duck comes by the practice room after her classes. She's not gonna bother him. Maybe refill the lamp and poke at the book a little.

He's very focused. Looking at him like this, it's not at all hard to believe that he practices more than anyone else at the school.

She totally believes him! Serafin's really good at dancing, so he'd have to practice a lot. She's really bad at it, which is maybe because she doesn't practice enough and maybe because she hasn't had very long to practice in.

She rereads the last bit of the book. There's nothing in there about the prince shattering his heart; that part happened after he left the story.

Eventually, he comes over to sit by her.

"Hey. Are you - doing better without the fear shard?"

"Yeah! Way better! I wanted to thank you for figuring it out. And for taking it. That was really nice of you."

"I - didn't want to just leave it with you forever. Even though I really don't like being afraid."

"Yeah. Being afraid is hard. But it's - I think it means a lot to be afraid of something that has to happen and then do it anyway. I dunno if that makes any sense."

"No, it makes perfect sense."

There's a suspiciously familiar giggle by the window. If they look, they'll see a blur of pigtails and then hear a little more giggling.

...Serafin blinks suspiciously at the giggly pigtails. They are indeed suspicious.

More giggling!

"Uh, I think maybe I should go. I'm really glad you're doing better, though!"

"Yeah. See you later!"

As she leaves the building, she is accosted by her friends Pique and Lilie.

"Duck! You're so bold! But with him?"

"Yeah, I thought you were a Mytho girl for sure!"

She frowns at them. "Huh?"

"Spending all that time with Serafin," explains Pique. "You know he's trouble, right?"

"He's so mean!" says Lilie, dreamily. "An absolutely terrible person!"

"He's always giving Mr. Cat a hard time, which seems like the last thing you want now that you're finally off probation," says Pique.

"He once went on a date with a girl, and she ran away in the middle and never spoke of it again!" says Lilie, sounding like she dearly wishes she could have been there to see it herself.

"So you've gotta be careful if you're gonna go out with him!" nods Pique.

"But I'm not!" says Duck. 

"We know you're not careful, that's why we're telling you this."

"I mean I'm not going out with him!"

"Poor Duck. Consumed with not one, but two doomed loves."

"You really need to think about these things more carefully."

"Don't worry, Duck! If he does terrible unspeakable things to you, you can always come to us to cry about it!"

"It'd probably be better if you just stuck to Mytho, he has that whole prince charming thing going on."

"Even though Serafin thinks he's a prince!"

Pique considers this. "That's right, Serafin used to go around telling people that he was a prince. He hasn't done that for a long time, though."

"What?" asks Duck. "Is he really a prince?"

"Of course not, silly," laughs Lilie. "I bet he was just saying that so unsuspecting girls would like him more!"

"Anyway," sighs Pique, laying a hand on her shoulder. "If you're gonna go after Serafin, I want you to know that I support you, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop worrying about you."

"Anyway! Later!"

They run off before she can ask what some of that even means. She heads back towards the dorms by herself.

Serafin is also heading back to his dorm, with the lamp and the book. He has to walk kind of slowly because he overdid it pretty badly with the practice today. But on the other hand, he feels exhausted and satisfied instead of on the verge of a breakdown, so skipping all his classes and dancing himself to exhaustion definitely worked for the intended purpose.

Duck runs into him again on the way. She looks like she maybe wants to ask something and is not entirely sure what the thing is.

"Are you a prince?" she says, eventually.

"...uh," he says. "Why? I mean, yes, but why?"

"Pique just said you might be."

"Well, I am. Do people still remember that? I used to talk about it a lot when I first got here but I haven't brought it up since I was twelve."

"Oh, that makes sense. I guess I wouldn't remember that."

"Well. Yeah, I'm a prince. My father's the Grand Duke of Thule. Who told you about it, anyway?"

"Pique and Lilie. They're my friends from the beginner class. I think."

"Oh, them. Are they, uh... nicer to you than it sounds like?"

"They're really nice! They're just, hm. Very enthusiastic. And sort of confused about stuff. And they think I maybe don't always make the best decisions."

"Okay."