Dear regular reader,

Please leave a review in ANY chapter that you read and find interesting. If the story is not good, then tell me in what way it can be improved.

Spazztic Revenge: Thanks for your very helpful and detailed feedback. I will add more descriptions about thought and emotion and also more contents about Valerie and Conroy in the future

CrayonCalendar: Thanks for your comment on Chapter 1-14, chapter 11 has been revised and now it has a story

R-armchair: Your suggestion to add a timeline to this story is quite helpful. I have added them to each chapter now.

For new readers: From chapter 15 onwards, the story will be alternately divided into three scenes: Light's adventure with Hiromi, Hope's adventure with his team members, and common activities of their family (Parenting, leisure, friendship, travel, business setup)

[From Lightning's diary]

[WRITTEN ON 14 SEP 2022]

We approached the round table in the middle of the room, where those five guys with white robes were gathering. I looked at their appearances one by one from the left to right. The guy at the center was tall and thin. He had long and completely greying hair, with a full beard. He looked in his late forties.

The guys on the left and right sides of him were younger. The guy on the left was clean-shaven, had a muscular build, and brownish, short, straight hair. The guy on the right had a buzz-cut military hairstyle, also clean-shaven with blue eyes, and wore glasses. Both guys looked in their twenties. The three of them looked European.

The guy furthest on the left side of the table was African with curly and thin hair, balding on his forehead, and wore a thin mustache. The last guy furthest on the right side of the table looked Middle Easterner, he wore a turban, had a roundish face, and a thin beard. He also had a scar on his right cheek. Both the African and the Middle Easterner were slightly shorter than me. Appearance-wise, they looked in their thirties, similar to me.

"So, Hiromi, " the eldest guy in the group began the conversation, "Is this the subject you requested to be assigned to for the last eight months?"

"Yes, it is, " Hiromi nodded and replied, "She has passed both my background and skill assessments. I rate her as Advanced level."

"Advanced level?" the guy with brownish straight hair responded in a surprised tone, his eyes widened, "So, she is at the same level as team leaders..."

"Yes, this is the reason I invited her, " Hiromi reconfirmed, "As you know, my brother refused to participate in this mission after his previous experience in India. He is currently on a parallel mission in France and we need somebody at the Advanced level to be deployed in the field. She is a very suitable candidate..."

"Hold on!" I interrupted, "I never said I'd agree to join Lux Veritatis..."

"Ah, right!" Hiromi clapped her hands and glanced at me, "I have not introduced my colleagues to you, Lightning."

She stretched her hand towards the tallest guy at the center, "This is Larry, who rescued me and my brother at the warehouse. He is our team leader for the French division of Lux Veritatis." Larry smiled at me and I shook his hand to greet him.

"This is Pablo," Hiromi pointed to the guy with brownish and straight hair. I greeted him and he gave me a firm handshake, "He assisted my brother on his previous mission in India." After that, she pointed to the bald guy, "This is Dmitri. He is our senior scholar and in charge of deciphering ancient manuscripts to locate our target artifact. I worked with him regularly on this mission..."

Dmitri just stretched and clenched his right fist. I bumped my fist against his.

Hiromi then walked beside the Middle Eastern guy and patted his shoulder, "This is Hussain. He is in charge of our logistics at the excavation site. If you need any equipment before going to an uncharted place, you can talk to him."

"And lastly," Hiromi walked around the table and approached the African guy on the left side, "This is Amari. He will analyze recovered mystical artifacts, their potential, and how to use them. He is another team leader in our team."

"Ah, I almost forgot myself, " Hiromi put her hand on her chest and grinned, "I am the secretary of our team. I am in charge of scouting potential new members, providing them information about the mission of Lux Veritatis, to recruit them into our team. Like you, Lightning..."

I chuckled at her. It looked like this organization was really doing serious business.

"I understand that you have not made any commitment, Lightning," Larry said with a calm tone, "Why don't I brief you regarding our current mission? You will have the freedom to decide if you want to go into it..."

"Sounds good, Larry," I answered. Hiromi carried two folded chairs from a corner of the room, unfolded them, and asked me to sit. I sat and all the other six people in the room sat on their chairs around the table as well.

"So, Lightning...do you know the history of Freemasonry?" asked Larry.

I shook my head, "Barely. I just heard from some online articles some time ago and from my husband. But I did not delve deeply into it..."

"OK, so there will be a bit of history lesson since it is related to our mission, " Larry stood up and snapped his fingers. Instantly, the light was emitted from the empty wall on one corner of the room. I saw that there was a 3D hologram displaying a mosque with a golden dome on its top. The mosque was surrounded by tall stonewalls on all four sides. I recognized it as the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

I was amused as it seemed the hologram was not projected by any electronic device, just activated by Larry's action of snapping his fingers.

"You used magic," I asserted, watching Larry as he smiled and nodded.

"It was psychic power, but you can think it like magic, " he confirmed, "So, why do I show you this mosque? Because, it is the headquarter of the first organization related to Freemasonry - Knight Templars. According to the official story, this organization was started by two knights who participated in Crusade - the war between Christians and Muslims during the Middle Ages. It was established to protect the pilgrims during their journey to the Holy Land. It was endorsed even by the Pope. Due to the involvement of many prominent people at that age, the Templars grew to become the first international organization - with its own law and army. It owned large portions of lands and properties across Europe and gained trust with the commoners..."

I saw that the hologram changed and it showed from an aerial view group of knights, with red cross emblems on their backs as they rode their horses in the street parade in the city. The architecture of the houses around the street looked Medieval. I saw many commoners cheered for the knights as they marched outside the city. Presumably, those knights were the Templar Larry talked about.

"That is the official story, " Hiromi added, "But as they grew more powerful, a lot of dubious practices started to surface. The Church found that the Templar lent the money to both Christian and Muslim rulers during the Crusade. Essentially, financing and profiting from both sides during the war. The King of France also investigated the Templar and accused them of involvement with witchcraft. In their headquarter in Al-Aqsa, many occult-related artifacts had been found. Eventually, the Pope decided to issue an edict to disband the Templar."

"OK, that sounds like ancient history. So, how is the Knight Templars related to your current mission?" I asked.

"The founder of the Knight Templars, Lord Godfrey, was linked to the mystical artifact we are currently looking at. The name is Ring of Solomon. " Amari answered, "According to Jewish legend, the ring was given to King Solomon by the angel of God. It gives the wearer of the ring the authority to command the demons to do his wishes. King Solomon used that to build the Temple of Jerusalem, on the place where Al-Aqsa mosque is currently located."

The hologram changed again, this time I saw it showed a person dressed in a royal robe knelt down in front of a floating transparent figure with a luminous face in the place that looked like the royal bedroom. The angelic figure raised its hand, the light was emitted and the golden ring appeared on his palm. The king stretched both hands in begging position and received the ring from the angel. When he wore the ring, instantly the scene around him transformed and he looked transported to another dimension. After that, the hologram was completely stopped.

"So far, according to available ancient manuscripts that I and Dmitri had retrieved and analyzed, Lord Godfrey indeed managed to find Ring of Solomon from Al-Aqsa mosque and kept it in his underground laboratory in his secret mansion." Hiromi continued, "And I have identified the approximate location of his secret mansion, it is within a forest region around one-and-a-half-hour driving from Bordeaux, near the border with Spain."

"If that is the case, " I suggested, "Why don't you guys retrieve this artifact? Why is it related to me?"

"Well, we are dealing with an occult organization here, Lightning." Larry replied, "There would be a lot of challenges on the site. We regularly encounter vampires, sorcerers, and mercenaries to retrieve such artifacts. We need capable fighters, preferably someone with supernatural powers. Additionally, since Hiromi's brother will be absent on this mission, we need a fighter with Advanced level capability to lead the team."

"My profile fits your requirements," I deduced. Larry nodded in affirmation.

"Our team will be divided into three groups, " Amari explained, "The first team is Larry, Pablo, and Dmitri. The second team is me with Hussain. If you join us, you will go together with Hiromi to explore the site..."

"We will give you one month to make your decision, Lightning. This will be a mission for six months by the time you decide to join." Larry added, "Please carefully consider it, as we do not force people to join our side."

[WRITTEN ON 16 SEP 2022]

I was still overwhelmed with what was presented to me in Lux Veritatis' hideout two days ago. I was convinced that Hiromi told me the truth and that they were really the guys on the good side. However, the hidden nature of the organization meant that I need to do this work without the knowledge of my family and friends, including Hope, Serah, Snow, and my kids.

Do I want to do this? For what purpose? From what I understood, Lux Veritatis and Freemasonry had been existing at least a millennium in this New World. They were struggling against each other until now, potentially forever. There was no end to the battle, unlike our battle against fal'Cie in the old world. Although it lacked thrill, I felt happy when I took care of Valerie and Conroy for the last six months. However, my Guardian Corps career had practically ended and my kids would later be slowly detaching themselves as they gained more friends in their school. I liked my MMA class but it had become routine after a while.

Today, I was supposed to teach an MMA class in the same gym I met Hiromi the first time. I canceled the class and messaged Hiromi, who was at her home. I felt that I needed to discuss deeply our feelings and motivation to join this mission. It was early in the morning around 10am when I reached the entrance. Hiromi was similar to Serah, she stayed in a rented property (but it was smaller, only two bedrooms). She was doing her part-time postgrad for 1.5 years since Jan 2022 and after that, she would return to Japan.

I knocked at the front door and she appeared a short while, wearing a casual dress with vertical blue-and-white stripes motif. We went to the living room, the floor was covered by tatami and we sat around a dining table in one corner. Her Japanese dining table was designed differently, as the height was low, so the guests need to sit down. The wall behind the dining table had a rack to hang several katanas, shorter ones on the bottom and the longest ones on the top. Beside the dining table, a room screen divider with a sakura tree motif was standing. On the dining table, there was a teapot with the cups. Hiromi poured the tea into both cups, passed one of them to me. I also saw a Christian cross and a strange symbol like a black five-petal flower inside a circle were hanging side-by-side on the wall.

"You are deep in thought, " she commented while slurping her tea, "I can understand it takes a while to digest..."

"I am thinking about my motivation, " I replied as I also drank my tea, "If you don't mind, may I know if you are a Christian?" I pointed to a Christian cross hanging on the wall beside us.

"That's a very good question, Claire, " Hiromi smiled. "It can be yes or no, depending on how do you define it,"

I was perplexed by her answer, "What do you mean by that?"

"Traditional Christians believed that God gave the revelation only through Jewish prophets and Christian apostles. But I believed that God gave revelation to all nations, including Japan. My dad is a Catholic and my mom is a Tenrikyo follower. And by the way, you do not need to be Christian to become Lux Veritatis members. Hussain is a Muslim and we also have some Jews in our Europe branches..."

"That is interesting, " I commented, "So, are you saying that you don't follow any dogma?"

Hiromi put her fingers on her chin, seemed in deep thought, "I would not say yes. I believe in certain metaphysical things like many religions have. I believe in heaven and hell, the existence of the Most High God, and the human obligation to pursue good and avoid evil in all things. But I am less detailed on civil law on any religion. Each religion has different celebrations on their holy days, civic laws to follow such as dress code, dietary, and abstinence. I was baptized as Catholic but I also regularly attend Shinto shrine. What about you, Claire? How do you find the religions in this world compared to your universe?"

"I and Hope also attended a Christian church," I answered, "But I come for community gathering and charity, I do not understand any of its creeds or history. For Hope, it seems that he has very detailed knowledge about Christianity not long after he was reborn in this New World. It was implanted into his memory but not me. For me, I believe in the existence of greater Higher Power in the universe, like Materia in Dissidia or Etro in my universe. I also believed in spiritual realms like what you said as heaven and hell, as I was in Valhalla with Etro. I understand Valhalla was similar like limbo here..."

"Then, we are more similar than it seemed to be, right?" Hiromi deduced, "So what is your concern?"

"I do not feel like a very religious person, I am not patient, and frequently lose my temper." I admitted, "But here, I am invited to join a religious organization."

Hiromi laughed as she pulled my cup and refilled it again, "I also felt similar to you when I joined. But actually, this feeling of inferiority is a good thing. It shows that we know that we are not perfect. However, as we made a commitment, it motivates us to serve a higher purpose. If we want to wait until we are perfect, nobody would join..."

I contemplated what she said for a while, and I thought what she said made sense.

"If let's say I decide to join you, what are the next steps? I cannot afford to spend much time like going around Nova Chrysalia..." I asked.

"First, I need to brief you in detail about our target excavation site. Next, you will need to liaise with Hussain for him to acquire your equipment for your mission. The last one, Larry will need to perform a magical ability test for you since you will be my team leader. After that, then both of us will be ready to go." Hiromi explained, "It will fit normal working hours. Once we find Lord Godfrey's mansion, it would take at most one full day to explore and find his underground laboratory. It is quite a small space."

So far, Hiromi had cleared many of my doubts about my motivation. So I was convinced that there was no obstacle for me to join. But then do I really want to take a risk for some exotic artifacts? I joined Dissidia for the practical concern of funding Hope's study. However, there is no such thing for now.

"I would give you an additional practical motivation, " Hiromi added, "Conroy might need Lux Veritatis in the future."

I was surprised by her mentioning my kid, "What is wrong with him?"

"You may not notice, Claire. But in this world, psychic power is inherited. Our family has a history of psychic power, so my brother has one. You have Etro's power inherited from Dissidia tournament, and now you already have children. When I met Conroy the first time and held his hand, I felt an energy wave was released. This is a similar feeling that happened when my brother touched me when he unleashed his power..."

Hiromi's statement shocked me, I was horrified and stared at her, "You meant that he..."

"He may not be hunted like my brother if his potency was not too strong. My brother is a rare case, but there is always a possibility." Hiromi continued, "If that's the case, we may meet again in the future even after this mission is completed."

Suddenly, everything Hiromi and her colleagues said in the hideout has become a relevant issue for me. Apparently, I need to say goodbye to normal life...

[WRITTEN ON 17 SEP 2022]

Although I was convinced that Lux Veritatis was on the good side, I still wondered how should I hide this thing from Hope. He already became suspicious of Hiromi when he watched her meeting Aoede this morning and he suspected hidden malicious intention. How would he perceive me if he finds out that I did this behind his back? I never keep anything secret from Hope, whether it is my inspiration, faith, past relations, career, and finance. He does the same thing for me.

But the nature of this organization is secretive. I am afraid that his life could be in danger if he joined me in this mission. Unlike me, all of my previous l'Cie friends did not retain their magical ability in this New World. Fighting against Freemasonry's monsters and sorcerers do not look like winnable battles if you don't have any magic.

Should I tell Hope about Conroy's psychic ability Hiromi told me earlier? But that would lead him to contact and investigate organizations who deal with this thing, potentially exposing him to Freemasonry. Even now, I still feel worried when he contacts many antique collectors and museums in Bordeaux for ancient manuscripts to locate and purchase the ancient artifacts. I am sure Freemasonry has its spies everywhere. If his actions are too obvious, they may try to seize him.

We just finished our lunch with NORA at 3pm. After Snow helped me wash the dishes, they left for Serah's home. This left me with Hope and the kids. Our schedule for that Saturday at 5pm: we went to a nearby park for light exercise and strolling with the kids. Before that, Hope read some ancient manuscripts in his personal lab while searching online for clues on the whereabouts of ancient sites related to warp portals. He usually did this for two to three hours every Saturday and Sunday. My kids were taking naps in their own rooms. For me, I watched the news in the living room.

The news on that day captured my interest, as I saw the headline was "Suspected assassination of a Syrian general by US-created humanoid robot". In this world, most wars were concentrated in the Middle East region, including Syria. The reporter on that news was interviewing Syria's Minister of Defence. The man alleged that the general was assassinated by the US and showed the audience the video of captured CCTV footage.

According to captured CCTV footage, the Syrian general was having a secret meeting with the leaders of paramilitary groups in the unknown bunker. Then I saw a female humanoid robot with silver, shoulder-length hair, wearing a black dress with a skirt, her eyes were masked, wielding an electrical sword, and assisted by her combat pod appear from the entrance. This humanoid robot had slaughtered the entire meeting attendants and the armies inside the bunker, a total of one hundred people.

The Syrian government accused the US and NATO of violating international law by deploying this experimental combat robot. However, the US Defence Minister denied the allegation and claimed that it was a baseless accusation by the Syrian government. Nevertheless, the reporter alleged, this was the first time that a battle humanoid robot was captured on camera. This sparked the international debate on the ethical use of AI and robots for warfare purposes.

I shook my head. It seems that even in some regions of this world, open warfare is a day-to-day reality. So, we have hidden global warfare between secret societies and open warfare between some countries. I switched off the television and yawned. Enough dose of bad news for today, I guessed.

I climbed the stairs to the second floor to find Hope in his personal lab. It had been half an hour since he went inside and I usually popped up randomly. I enjoy watching his serious and thoughtful face when he does his research.

I knocked on the door and called him, "Hey, Hope! Can I come in?"

"Light, just come in! I have something interesting to tell you!", he replied with an excited voice.

Well, that's a bit unusual, I thought. He was rarely excited about his side interest these past few years. I was wondering what his finding would be. I turned the doorknob, opened the door, and entered. The room has two bookshelves on the left and the right side of the room. The other side has an office desk with a desktop and a large world map was attached to the wall in front of the desk.

At the center of the room, there is a round table with many picture frames. I saw that it was basically pictures of our past life events, like our wedding, childbirth, graduation ceremony, vacation, and our children's birthday. Hope was sitting on his office desk, reading an old book in front of him. I felt my heart warm when I remembered those past memories with him and our kids.

When Hope realized I had entered the room, he turned to face me with an unusually bright smile.

"Finally!" he claimed and snapped his fingers, "I found it, Light!"

I was curious, slowly approached him, and tilted my head, "What thing do you find?"

"The portal and the artifact which can open it, " he replied. Instantly, my heart pumped so hard and I stared at him.

"How did you find it? Where is it?" I asked, "All this time, you never had much progress as far as I know..."

"That's true. This began during my research on Jewish mythology around six months ago. I was researching this figure named King Solomon. According to some ancient records, he has this magical ring that is able to summon spiritual beings from other dimensions. And I am tracking where this ring is located. I understood that the last person who claimed to have contact with this ring was a French knight named Lord Godfrey de Saint-Omer..."

No way, I thought. Now, Hope was aiming for the same thing as Lux Veritatis and Freemasonry. If this thing continues, he would be further involved and could be in danger. Definitely, I should not let this thing happen! But not long after that, Hope took the old book from his table and showed me the cover. The title is "The Diary of Lord Godfrey".

I was shocked and my mouth opened, "Where did you get that book, Hope?" I probed.

"There is this small antique store in Bordeaux which specializes in Middle-Age artifacts," Hope answered, "The name is Knight Corner. But actually, there are two manuscripts for this diary, the original and the copy. According to the owner, the original one was bought by a Russian guy around three months ago. At that time, he did not know that there was a copy of that diary. When he re-checked his inventory, he found this copy. It was rewritten from the original diary twenty years after Lord Godfrey had passed away. I contacted the owner, he allowed me to purchase it..."

The Russian guy, I thought. Could it be Dmitri, Hiromi's colleague in Lux Veritatis? It could mean that Hope was reading the same thing as Hiromi...

"I have not finished reading it," Hope admitted, "It will require advanced knowledge in Latin. But from what I found so far, Lord Godfrey managed to uncover the magical ring from the temple in Jerusalem and brought it to his mansion in France. And his mansion is located somewhere near Bordeaux...Light? Are you OK?"

I suddenly realized that I still let my mouth hang open and my eyes stared, I quickly tried to show my enthusiasm in front of him.

"So, do you think you can pinpoint the exact location of this artifact after you finish reading that diary, Hope?" I asked. He nodded with eyes full of excitement. He patted my shoulders on both sides and gazed at me.

"I may need your help, Light..." he said, "If we can capture this ring, I can investigate how it can be harnessed to open the Time Gate. And we can take some technologies from our Cocoon, Pulse, or Nova Chrysalia to the current world. At least, that is my ultimate dream..."

I tried to smile at him, although my heart was feeling very anxious at that moment. I know you have a sincere motivation, Hope. But I cannot let you be involved in this thing. I would need to find some ways to prevent you from being involved without knowing about Lux Veritatis. How would I do that?

[WRITTEN ON 18 SEP 2022]

The fact that now Hope had the same information as Hiromi really made me struggle to decide. With the diary of Lord Godfrey, I could basically assist Hope in retrieving the Ring of Solomon from the mansion, bypassing Lux Veritatis completely. However, if such a case happens, I am sure Hiromi and Lux Veritatis would not assist me or my family if Freemasonry target Conroy for his psychic ability in the future as I have betrayed their trust. Is it the right thing for me to do that?

On another hand, if I decide to work for Lux Veritatis, I need to ensure that Hope cannot use that diary to identify the location of the mansion. I need to somehow snatch the diary stealthily. Without access to that diary, Hope cannot go to the site. His life would be safe and that way Lux Veritatis would protect my family in the future. However, I am sure he will be mad at me if he knows I did such a thing. We have been always together during our adventure and now I go alone without him.

I was really troubled by this and my mind kept repeating this dilemma all the time. I could not enjoy my leisure time yesterday in the park with Hope and the kids. Outwardly, I tried to look happy. But last night, I could not even sleep for three hours. In the end, I needed to use a sleeping pill. Luckily, Hope was not aware of this as he slept soundly. My heart says I need to go for the first option, but my mind would choose the second option.

On Sunday, before I slept, while Hope was taking a shower, I knelt down and prayed seriously, both to God and to Etro. I rarely spent a long time praying for serious issues. But this time, I really felt I needed divine guidance to decide my path.

On that night, the dream happened. When I opened my eyes, I was standing on a stone floor in the open air. I was wearing sandals, a loose white cloak, and a brownish thin veil. My clothes were similar to what the guys in Lux Veritatis' hideout were wearing during their meeting. I gazed upon the building that stood tall before me, the mosque with a golden dome on its top, and its exterior was decorated with blueish ornamental tiles with Arabic script written on them. I recognized this as Al-Aqsa mosque. The reddish sky indicated it was almost nighttime as I could see the sun was setting on the horizon.

I looked around and noticed several Middle Eastern men and women passed by but it seemed that they could not see me. I was wondering what brought me to this place and for what purpose.

"It has been a while, Claire." Suddenly I heard a somehow familiar female voice from behind me.

I turned around and I saw a middle-aged woman with a blue gown, long purple shiny hair, and crown on her head.

"Goddess Etro!" I replied, surprised that I would meet her again in this New World. I knelt down before her to show my reverence. Her appearance was still the same as when I met her in the Dissidia tournament seven years ago. Although I wished my prayer to be answered, I was surprised it would be so fast.

"It is a tough time for you, isn't it?" Etro walked towards me and her icy blue eyes were glowing with radiant blue light, "Please stand up. No need to be so formal..."

I stood up as she commanded, "As you know, I was blessed with peaceful life for all this time. However, I need to make a decision which will affect my life..."

"Basically, you need to decide between the will of your husband or the charity for the common good, " Etro stretched her right hand forward. Instantly two white marble chairs appeared in front of us, "Please sit, Claire..."

Both of us sat on the marble chairs as I still looked at her radiant eyes, expecting her answer.

"I told you earlier that the fate of the New World took precedence over your sister or your husband, " Etro proclaimed, "You as warrior goddess have a duty to safeguard the New World from evils. You should not let the private ambition of your husband jeopardize your world. He is a good-hearted and smart man but too naive. You should do your public duty on your own, instead of letting him accompanying you."

My heart was saddened after her answer. I should have expected this answer but I still could not forsake this feeling of betraying Hope.

"You are not betraying him, Claire," Etro added as she knew what I was thinking, "This is for his own good. His life will be safe by not following you. This is a price to pay for your power. With great power comes great responsibility. You were chosen for this. There is no option to escape."

I was about to raise a suggestion at that time to Etro to just revoke my magical power to release me from this responsibility. But as she commanded me previously, I still needed to abide by my vow. I felt a sense of powerlessness pervading my entire being. The thought to begin a new adventure without my Hope, who was together with me throughout our struggle against Bhunivelze, was really daunting.

"But Etro, " I protested, grabbing the cloak on my chest, "I lack the strength to begin this journey without my husband..."

"Then I will give you strength. You shall not derive your strength from humans. Trust in God." Etro answered, admonished me.

I was trembling by her last words as I felt tears were flowing from my eyes. But I quickly wiped them away and bowed to her.

"As what thou desirest, thy will be done..." I answered her as I cried. Not long after, Etro stood up, touched my head with her fingers, and I felt the energy wave that was flowing to my body. Slowly, I felt that I was rejuvenated and my heart become calmer. The space around us disappeared and only white background remained.

"Trust in God, Claire," Etro repeated her command, "And you shall triumph over the power of evil..."

With her last words, I was awoken on my bed with Hope beside me.

The day afterward, I messaged Hiromi to accept her offer.