"Welcome back."

"It's nice to be back."

That was an understatement. Free from her magical prison, Estelle felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Limp as a ragdoll, trembling, and once more entirely in control of her body, Estelle allowed herself to relax for the first time. Her head was swimming as her panic eased, and she struggled to swallow the terror and despair she had been feeling near-constantly since... since...

She realized then that Yuri was talking to her, too late to register what he said. "What?" The princess blinked at him, focusing on his face. He had always been a reassuring, protective presence before, and reassurance was what she needed at the moment.

"I said, can you stand?"

"I... I think so," she replied, feeling embarrassed when her mind added, if you help me. She didn't want to say it. Already he and the rest of her friends had tracked her across Terca Lumireis to rescue her; she couldn't ask any more of him than he'd already done.

He understood. He always understood. Carefully, Yuri took hold of her arms, and together they got to their feet. At the moment, the relieved smile he was giving her was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"I-I'm all right," she stammered as he released her. Her friends had all gathered around her: Yuri, Judith, Karol, and Rita were there, looking overjoyed. Even Repede stepped forward to give her hand a sniff, and she could have sworn that in the split second before he turned away, the look in the dog's single blue eye was one of concern. Still shaking, but feeling miles better than she had been, Estelle returned their smiles. "Thank you, all of you. I—" In her effort to avoid having to lean on Yuri for balance, she overcompensated and listed backward dangerously.

A firm hand on her shoulder stopped her from falling over again. She turned her head, an apology or a word of thanks at the tip of her tongue, and caught sight of the olive-skinned hand, the loose, rich purple sleeve, and...

Estelle flinched.

She didn't mean to. She couldn't help it. She'd seen him fighting alongside her friends, protecting them, watching their backs, helping them free her, being their friend... But what if it was all an act again? Did they know?

Raven's hand left her shoulder as quickly as if she'd slapped him. In the space of a second, Estelle saw a startling flurry of emotions flit across his face. A look of hurt became one of dismay, followed by regret, sympathy, and something that looked very close to fear.

"It's okay, Estelle," Judith broke the brief tense silence, ever the calm presence of the group. "We know what happened."

Rita, now standing the closest to Raven, shot him a dirty look. "And it won't happen again." As if to emphasize her point, she drove her elbow into his side. Surprisingly, she did so marginally more gently than she normally did, since Raven only winced a little.

"It's kind of a long story," Karol added, fidgeting slightly.

"Speaking of which, Flynn will probably want to know about all this," Yuri said dryly. He turned his head to grin at each one of them before starting back down the Sword Stair. "C'mon. Let's get down from here before Zagi shows up or something." Estelle followed him, Rita moving to hover by her side.

"Try not ta jinx it, will ya?" Raven quipped as he passed Estelle, sounding too eager to slip back into the familiar easy banter. Before, it had been a little annoying, yet strangely endearing in a way that was uniquely Raven. Now, it sounded shallow and forced.

"Hey, we're all back together now," Rita broke in, not appearing to notice. "The last thing I wanna think about is that creep." The young mage gave Estelle a tap on the arm with her fist. "Try not to scare us again like that, will you?"

"Sorry I had you all worried," Estelle said sheepishly.

"I'm just glad to have you back," Karol was quick to tell her, his cheeky smile back on his face. "You know us. Whenever you need us, Estelle, Brave Vesperia'll be there and give a hundred percent!"

"Besides, it's not like it was your fault, anyway," Judith pointed out sensibly.

Without meaning to, Estelle shot a furtive glance at Raven. It was hard to look at him now. The last time she'd seen him before the ordeal that Alexei had put her through was back in Myorzo, right before he'd taken her and delivered her straight into the ex-Commandant's hands.

And here he was, flanking Yuri and doing his very best to act like none of it had happened.

An almost alien emotion burned within Estelle. It wasn't quite anger, but it was close enough that she didn't like it and wanted it gone. The young princess looked around at her friends, remembered all the things they'd done together, how she'd come to love them and watch them fight and laugh and grow alongside her, and in spite of herself, she smiled. Her gaze turned Raven again, and her smile remained without a twitch. But it felt wrong, as shallow and forced as Raven's earlier lighthearted quip.

She was reunited with her friends, and they were all alive and well. So why did she feel so awful?

"...Well, once we figured that part out, it was easy gettin' up ta the Sword Stair, and I think ya know the rest after that." Raven went quiet, tilting his head slightly as he looked to his audience for a reaction.

Estelle was silent for a long time, arms crossed, staring at the floor as she slowly absorbed all she had just heard.

Before her, Raven stood uneasily, looking for all the world like an accused man awaiting a grim verdict.

"So... you were helping him because he saved your life," Estelle said slowly. "Alexei, I mean." It made sense; Schwann Oltorain was a decorated knight, and knights were supposed to be known for their honor. Her friends had all saved her life at some point, and she felt the need to repay them all the time.

But that didn't make this right.

"It ain't that, Estelle," Raven went on with a weary sigh. "Alexei didn't save my life. There was nothin' left ta save. I was dead. Thing about dyin'... if ya come back, ya find there ain't a lot to live for. Alexei was the only reason I was still breathin'; there was nothin' else I could do but follow 'im. I'm livin' on borrowed time with this thing." He shifted aside his coat and the collar of his shirt, revealing the blastia glowing in his breast.

Estelle struggled with herself, returning her gaze to the floor. She understood now why he'd done what he'd done; he'd had reasons. Judith had had her reasons for destroying blastia, and even Rita had found it in herself to forgive her. Both Judith and Raven, too, had seen their mistakes for what they were, and seemed to have become better people for it.

But Judith had never harmed them. She had raised her weapon against blastia, but never against them. She had never betrayed them, or allowed a treacherous madman to imprison them and wield them like tools. Raven had.

Estelle felt as though her blood had turned to ice water as a single cold realization struck.

She couldn't forgive Raven, just like that, the way she had forgiven Judith. She just couldn't. No matter how much she told herself that Raven had legitimate reasons for what he did, or that he had changed and was siding with them permanently, she couldn't.

Estelle looked up and met Raven's eyes squarely. "Okay," she said decisively. "But you have to let me do the same thing everyone else did."

For a moment Raven looked somewhat bewildered. "What—"

Estelle's hand cracked hard against the side of his face. The force of the blow whipped his head to the side, and his hand went to the now tender spot she'd struck.

"Ow," he said emphatically, sounding honestly taken aback by the blow. He rubbed his jaw ruefully. "...Deserved that."

"Now we're even," Estelle informed him, feeling somewhat better. It was only somewhat, and already she felt uncomfortable about hitting him, but she told herself not to let it show. She even smiled at him, but it felt forced. The pangs of ugly resentment that came when she had looked at him before were lessening, but they weren't going away. Suddenly she longed to be somewhere else. "Well, thank you for telling me, Raven," she went on, a bit quietly. "I have to go now; Rita said she wanted to try something with my power."

"Yeah," Raven said distractedly, still nursing his jaw. "See ya later, then."

Estelle turned away before he could see her bite her lip. She rarely told a lie, but it had seemed appropriate. After all, the following morning would see them on their way to Zaude, and one way or another, she was going with them. They were far from even, but it would have to do.

She'd been overjoyed, once, to have so many friends after eighteen years of almost none. But no one had ever told her how much friendship could hurt.

Because even kind-hearted princesses have limits, and what Estelle went through on Raven's account was probably hers.