"Okay," Kay says with a small shrug.

"Sorry," says Rachel, looking down at her phone.

That's good, she texts back.

Ev finally comes out of the changing rooms, chatting to Romar and Matil. When he catches sight of Rashel, he frowns briefly, but he ultimately decides to go home without talking to her.

Krian also comes out and the cousins leave.

The next day: Rashel is talking to Thar. Also being confused. Also being somewhat stonewalled.

She is in fact being stonewalled. Thar stands there, looking somewhat unimpressed by her efforts to get information out of him.

Ev is not present.

The cousins come around and see this scene and walk over.

"Hello, Rashel?"

"Hi." Kay says to Thar.

Thar looks away from Rashel and over at the cousins, responding with a smile. "Hi."

Rashel looks over at Kay and Krian likewise, then back at Thar, rolling her eyes a bit frustratedly.

"How are you guys today?" she asks, trying not to seem annoyed.

"Doing great. Nothing to complain so far... and you two?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says, then pokes Thar. "He, however, is being quiet."

Thar raises an eyebrow at her. "Don't I get a right to privacy?"

She seems to consider for a second, then decides, "No, no you don't."

He snorts in response.

It seems they might have made up.

"Well, you certainly have the right for privacy, but of course any friendship comes with trade offs. This is even more true when there is some recent imbalance."

He shrugs, not seeming to disagree but also not spilling all his secrets right there on the spot.

Rashel's fine with that and laughs a little. "Don't worry, I'll get it out of you later," she promises, smiling at him completely innocently.

"I wish you luck, Rashel."

"Thanks," she says, smiling and rolling her eyes a bit.

She gets out her phone and dashes off a quick text to Thar's dad, reading: Do you know if Thar's still at the clinic?

Thar, fortunately enough, doesn't appear to notice this!

Kay smiles at Rashel then turns that smile on Thar.

It is interesting how his smile can get a different meaning by just looking at another person.

"So..." have you had a mental breakdown? "how are you, Thar?"

"Yeah, I'm okay – you?"

"Sure," Krian says, "done anything interesting lately?"