- huh.

Serafin sort of wants to ask for an introduction, but isn't sure how to do that and also has a mouthful of lunch. But he approves of anybody who can get Duck to smile like that.

"I don't think I've seen you around since Mytho got taken by Giselle that one time."

"Different stories require different players. What story are you in now, Duck?"

"Me? Uh, I'm still trying to get all of the shards of Mytho's heart back, but I haven't run into any in a while. I thought I saw one and then I lost it."

"Yeah, have you seen any bears recently?"

"I have not," she says. "Nor have I seen an elephant."

"...What??"

"Some are given glory, and some are given happiness. But what of those who achieve neither? Is it better to act and fail, or fail to act? To do what you can when you can do nothing, or to hide away and be forgotten by fate?"

"It's better to try! 'Cause at least then you know you did your best."

She smiles slightly at Duck, and gives an acknowledging nod.

"And what would you do, Serafin, if you could not dance?"

...so, she... knows his name. O...kay.

"...curl up in bed and hug my lamp, probably. Are you going somewhere with this?"

"Not far. Just down the street."

"What's down the street?"

"Someone to dance with."

Serafin tries to think his way through this. It doesn't work. He tries thinking out loud.

"So... there's somebody who has, like, the Depression Shard or something, and they can't do anything, so they're curled up in bed probably not hugging a lamp, and they're 'just down the street', and... they're... an elephant? A... sad, missing elephant?"

"Wow, really? How'd you get all that from - huh."

She stands up on the bench she's sitting on and scans the horizon in all directions. There are no elephants around, which is what you'd expect if the elephant were missing. There are several walking paths visible from here, but only one street, the one that goes past the school and eventually down to the park.

"Thanks, Miss Edel!" she yells, before dashing off in the direction of the street.

Serafin wastes a few seconds giggling before he takes off after her.

Hmmmm. If she were sad, she'd go to the library or the pond, maybe. But she's a duck, so of course she would. If she were an elephant, she'd go to - well, her room, maybe, but the elephant's room can't very well be just down the street. Elephants are from the savanna, so -

She makes it to the park, and then notices an elephant wearing the academy uniform and sitting under a tree. Her pendant glows. But there's no emergency here, nothing for Tutu to dance with or make sense of.

She sits. "Hey. You doing OK?"

".....no, not really. Are you cutting class, too?"

"Oh! Uh! I - guess I am, huh."

Serafin arrives on the scene in time to hear this exchange.

Duck seems to have it handled for now, so he just nods a greeting to them both and sits down in the grass.

"....soooo," says Duck, because she doesn't see any evidence of a heart shard but Miss Edel has never been wrong. "Why're you cutting class?"

"I suppose I just don't find it interesting anymore. Sitting in class all day, patiently painting scenes and getting nowhere...."

"So you're in the painting division!" she says. "Me and Serafin are in ballet."

"Ballet is the best. For me, anyway, I could never sit still long enough to paint something."