"I'd never thought that I'd ever say this but; what is your brother doing to Raven?" Sparrow asked Dexter as the musician handed the other boy a to-go cup of coffee. The two of them had been spending more time with each other since from about a week ago when Sparrow decided to heed Raven's advice and ask Dexter out for some coffee and companionship (the witch had been right Dexter was lonely). Sparrow was looking out the large window that their table sat right next to inside one of the many tiny coffee houses littering the village.
Dexter followed the other's line of sight to see his older brother in the midst of a heated conversation between himself and Raven across the street. Daring had both of his large hands cupped around the witches shoulders and the look in his eyes were intensely worried, Raven had one hand on Daring's forearm and the other was on his bicep, moving up and down soothingly as she spoke calmly to the taller.
"Daring's growing worried for her, and so am I." Dexter admitted, he could make out Raven's lips forming the words; "peacefully" and "we do not want war" to which his brother nodded understandingly but looked frustrated as he spoke back to her.
Sparrow glanced at Dexter. "This about that secret project she has the two of you helping her out with?"
"We want to help her out more, know the full story about what's going on but she's genuinely terrified that something bad might happen to us if we know too much." Dexter crossed his arms when Raven allowed Daring to roll up her sleeve so that he could survey the intricate designs underneath.
"Well to be fair it seems like she's already making some heavy duty deals if all of those tats have anything to say. I'm sure that if it came down to it she'd go right to you guys for help, but for the moment it seems like she's getting all of her ducks in a row." Sparrow observed, his mind pulling up the memory of him overhearing Raven and those two Wonderlandian girls talking about the witch marrying Faybelle, the fairy was many things but she did at least take care of the things and people that were hers.
"But at what cost?" Dexter clenched his jaw. "A deal that serious does not come without a price. Daring had talked about how some old biddies in the High Council wanted her to give up her right to her throne and her title just because her mother had done all those bad things. And the information we've found thus far on that project she's having us do… it's really not looking good."
Dexter played with his coffee cup distractedly. "I'd feel better if she would just let us protect her more, all this secrecy and knowing that there is something dangerous going on worries me, and it's scaring Daring, he may not show it well but he cares about Raven like she's… a long-distance sister, not being able to protect her or make everything better so that her life can go back to normal is killing him. She says that she's doing what is necessary, and that we're probably going to throw a fit when we do find out everything, but to be honest I'd at least rather know exactly what's going on rather than worry like this."
Sparrow considered the other for a moment. "Have you ever told her how you guys feel?" He asked.
Dexter looked down. "Not really, Daring promised her that we'd do this no questions asked and he's being serious about that… he's just showing his worry in other ways."
Sparrow spared a sidelong glance outside where Daring had enveloped the witch in a crushing bear hug.
"I think that it's not that she doesn't trust you, it's just that she doesn't know how to do it properly." Sparrow mused. "I mean think about it; before that whole Legacy Day debacle Raven had, like one person in the entire school to count on, It's more than obvious to a lot of us Rebels that our fearless leader had it rough growing up and that's why there's this unspoken rule going around to not expect her to become like our all knowing queen or anything, even Hunter's pet squirrel seems to sense that she's way too broken inside for us to treat her the same way you guys treat Apple."
Dexter shook his head. "What are you talking about? Raven is one of the most level-headed people I know, she's not broken."
"Name a time when she has ever asked someone aside from Maddie for help on a personal matter, or a time where she was the one to arrange a gathering of Rebels like Apple arranges those parties for you Royals." Sparrow dared. "Aside from Maddie, you are one of her closest friends, tell me if she has ever come to you after she's had a bad day and needed someone to talk to."
"Um…" Dexter furrowed his brow, searching his brain for something. "I'm sure that there had to be some time…?"
"What I'm saying is that before Legacy Day she only had one friend, everybody else was either terrified of her or they were ridiculed for even daring to speak to her, and that's not even the half of it, remember in elementary school? After her mom went berserk some kids would throw things at her and call her names and the adults didn't do anything about it, and I'd bet my guitar that was the reason her dad homeschooled her in Junior High. I'm not saying that she's not levelheaded; I'm saying that since she's been a kid she had had virtually no one to rely on, she's like the textbook definition of self-dependent, she's just not used to relying on anybody or having more than a few people really get to know her." Sparrow shrugged.
At Dexter's baffled look the musician sighed. "It's not in her programing to tell people the whole truth, she may trust you guys but her learned data has been so corrupted by people hurting her if she strayed too close that she's had to set up firewalls and filters to keep her hard drive safe from hackers sending in viruses designed to burn her from the inside out."
"Oh!" Dexter's eyes lit up in understanding. "So if Daring and I are going to get her to tell us the whole truth then we need to convince her that she's got nothing to fear from speaking about it and that it would be in her best interests to let us help her more!"
"Bingo." Sparrow nodded while pointing to the other.
XXX
"You're leaving already?" Apple whined sleepily early Saturday morning after Raven tried to quietly sneak out of the bathroom after her shower. "It's two in the morning, is it really necessary for you to be up this early?"
"The place I'm going to is several hours ahead of us." Raven whispered, picking up her duffel bag and walking over to the princess's bed. Her eyes glowed an eerie yellow as the low light from the moon reflected against the inborn mirror-like organic mechanisms in the witch's eyes that helped her see in the dark. "I will be starting business matters the moment I get there which is why I'm rushing so early in the morning…" She glances at the clock on Apple's bedside table. "I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you, I tried to be quiet."
In response Apple stretched out her arms and hugged the witch around the waist. "I'm not disturbed, I'm worried! Every time you talk about your secret business it sounds like your waiting for a death knell or something."
Raven winced, one glowing eye narrowing in guilt. "I'll try to stop doing that. It's just that a lot of changes will be happening and I'm wary of what the outcomes may be is all. On one hand I'm excited that all the change that I'm going through appears to be the good kind for both me and my people… on the other hand there will be some major controversy amongst the people closest to me surrounding the decisions that I have made, and that is the thing that I am not looking forward to."
"Is that your way of saying that I'm probably not going to like whatever it is that you are doing?" Apple asked pursing her lips.
"Kinda, yeah." Raven nodded, the lights of her eyes bobbing up and down. "But at least I'm giving you fair warning this time, so when you do find out you will at least be somewhat prepared to speak your mind to me about the unorthodox and last minute decisions that I'm making."
"Golly gee, that makes me feel so much better." Apple grumbled sarcastically.
Raven bent down to kiss Apple's temple. "I'll see you Sunday night." The witch promised.
"Show me the new henna stuff you'll be getting?" Apple requested moving her arms around the witch's shoulders and trapping the other to her. "You may have to keep me in the dark about a lot of things but please at least show me the visual damage… Or in this case the ritualistic tattoos for a super secret deal that your conducting for your kingdom."
"I suppose it's the least I could do." Raven allowed, pulling back.
"What are you wearing?" Apple mumbled her hands patting the witch down.
"A ceremonial dress…" Raven answered cryptically, her glowing eyes moving back and forth shiftily.
"I wanna see." Apple declared, her hand reaching for the bedside lamp before Raven had a chance to react.
"That's got to be the most pink I've ever seen you wear." Apple said after a moment of shocked silence. "That's also the most skin I've ever seen you show off."
"They're very into symbolism where I'm going." Raven shrugged.
"Well you look gorgeous in my humble opinion, that style of dress suits you, so do the colors." The princess assured.
Raven couldn't help but smile at the compliment. "It's functional too, the temperatures are very warm where I'm going."
"So this is the traditional dress of wherever it is your going?" Apple asked innocently batting her eyes.
"Kind of…" Raven shrugged. "It didn't exactly originate there but it did get adopted as one of the many fashions when immigrants started moving in."
"Oh?" Apple said mentally filing the barest hints of information she was getting away for later for when she met up with Blondie and the two of them commenced their continuing research into what Raven might be doing. "So this place is like a giant melting pot of cultures huh."
"For witches, fairies, wizards, and mages mostly." Raven shrugged looking at Apple smugly. "Which just about describes dozens and dozens of realms and kingdoms involving those main groups."
"Can't you give me something to work with?" The princess demanded with a pout.
"That would defeat the whole purpose of this all being a secret. Raven shrugged apologetically.
"It's those kind of responses that make me worried." Apple sat up and glared at Raven.
"You'll find out about most of it very soon, I promise." Raven spoke before Apple could open her mouth to reprimand the witch. "But seriously, I'm not keeping you out of the loop for no good reason… Just please stretch your patience a little bit further? And hopefully I'll be able to explain everything to you before somebody figures it all out and starts sounding the alarms."
"And when will you be able to tell me?" Apple demanded unhappily.
"Definitely sometime after I get my hands done… and I get permission from the other people in this. And that is working under the assumption that you won't find out while I'm gone… because I get the feeling that several students have already figured at least some of it out…" Raven bit her lip as she thought about Cupid and Mira, who both just so happened to work rather closely to the best snoop in school.
Apple mulled over the witch's proposal for several moments before nodding. "We are going to have that talk sooooon after you get back." The princess gave her ultimatum. "Have a safe trip."
XXX
"That clingy, preppy little-." Faybelle snarled.
"Like I told you before; she's days away from figuring it out on her own." Raven sighed laying on her stomach on a massaging table in the bathing chamber as her back was done up with henna designs. "I can stall her for as long as I can but in the end me being the one to tell her about our deal and the reasons behind it might help keep her from completely freaking out."
"Keyword in that being "might" lovely bride of mine." Faybelle pointed out as she began to pace. "Apple White is an unpredictable factor, she could start shrieking confidential information to the heavens and anybody who will listen just as easily as she could use that big brain of hers to smartly keep her mouth shut! She, more than anybody, has the potential of putting you in danger and starting a war if she were to chatter to the wrong ears!"
"I didn't say that we tell her everything." Raven reasoned. "I was very frank with her when I told her that this business did not just involve me, but my kingdom too. If I remind her of this and I tell her that the fate of millions of lives are on the line, she will back off, no matter how angry she gets."
"Are you going to tell her about what the Charming brothers are looking into for you too?" Faybelle demanded heatedly.
"No." Raven gestured her hand in the negative. "Because then she could guilt Daring or Dexter into giving her information before they do me and if what we've pulled so far is anything to go by she will flip and be halfway prepared to send the White family's armies out or something equally bold when what we are trying to do is neutralize this issue without involving war. Ancestors know that Daring has offered to do just that with his kingdom's armies."
Reluctantly Faybelle cracked a smirk. "Heh, and here I thought that prince in-love-with-himself was just another pretty face."
"How did you mom react to the evidence I gave you to give to her while my front was being done?" Raven moved on to a different subject, clenching her stomach muscles and feeling the dried henna under her. "You were gone for hours."
Faybelle studied her nails. "Well… while your grandmothers were cursing in ways I have never heard before, and most of my family was cackling at that video of that prime minister, your father made a few calls and my mother made a few calls… suffice to say the crimes we had discovered had several law enforcement agencies very interested in several lords residing in some small Ever After kingdoms."
Raven breathed out a sigh of relief.
"And my mom decided that it would be in everybody's best interest if we did two ceremonies again this time around, tomorrow you'll be getting your hands done up and then rushed to the alter again." Faybelle finished watching the witch intently.
"Hmmm… makes sense…" Raven hummed as the nymph in charge of putting designs on her back reached her shoulders. "I'll have to hand that box to Grandmother quickly before we retire for the night."
"Was it wise to leave such a box under the protection of Kitty?" Faybelle asked. "Even if Maddie is there…"
"Kitty has met my grandmother. Kitty had gotten too curious once and popped in on both of my grandmothers talking about past flings. Kitty has stayed out of my grandmother's rooms unless she had an escort with her ever since." Raven rolled her eyes.
"Here you have such an open family and you somehow end up the innocent little maiden." Faybelle sighed despairingly. "You know that we are married right? The feud between our families is over and that "prince cosmetics and potions line" you have sold to the O' Hairs along with the title transfer, and all the trade deals you've brought us has made up for any lingering scores you needed to settle with us… and I would not be opposed to having such a pretty little witch in my bed…"
"I'm not comfortable using you as a rebound." Raven blushed bright red. "And besides… I… barely have enough privacy to do that kind of thing to myself at the dorms; I haven't a clue as to how to be a good lover since I haven't… had the time to properly explore myself…"
"Don't you and Apple have a private bathroom? …Like the rest of the dorms do?" Faybelle leaned down to look Raven in the eye her eyes dancing in amusement.
Raven scowled. "It takes a while for Apple to get ready in the mornings and evenings, and she often returns to the dorm to freshen up when we have time after class or on the weekend. So she's set up one of those decorative privacy screens around the bath so that I can soak in the tub and have some privacy while she comes in and out to do her thing. If I have to go to the bathroom I'm allowed to lock the door but I have to be quick about it."
"Normally I'd have a taunt to that but… damn that's just way too sad, ever consider… I don't know, maybe standing up for yourself?" The fairy raised a brow. "Seriously you are so brave in most situations but when it comes to that girl-"
"She has to knock before entering, she has to ask if I want to talk to her or not, she is only allowed to lock me out if she has to go but she also has to be quick about it, and if I'm already in the tub she has to buck up and go anyway, all of her supplies must stay on her side of the room and out of the bath tub and shower, and she has to always ask for permission before borrowing the bath toys I bought to amuse myself with." Raven listed out. "I made sure she signed an unofficial term agreement to all of this and I framed it to hang up by the light switch. I did not come out of that one without demanding some things too."
"Well that's good." Faybelle said a leer forming on her face. "Though if you ever need a bit more… privacy you are always welcome to take a bath in my dorm… toys and all."
The witch blushed and bit her lip. "Why is it I suspect that if I did agree to that, I wouldn't be exactly alone in the room?"
"I can be really quiet." Faybelle grinned. "And besides, I'm a fairy, we're kinda famous for using rebounds to our advantage."
The witch blinked in confusion at the other's choice of words.
"Just think about it." Faybelle proposed standing back up. "I know that you are still hung up on Apple and that Apple keeps saying that there is this maiden in the school who has a crush on you, and that could be your ticket into an actual healthy relationship, but are you really willing to wait that long for a human to make up their minds?"
"No." Raven said bluntly. "But I'm more willing to wait just a bit longer until after the up coming mess with everybody finding out about our deal has subsided… and finding out whether or not I'll have to transfer to Hathor Academy since we are breaking one of the school rules."
Faybelle raised her brows. "You're volunteering to transfer if people find out about the marriage? So that I can stay?"
"As of today you will have both titles, it only makes sense… and besides I'm not sure that I'll be able to handle the fallout of all of this at a school like Ever After… even if it was for my kingdom." Raven murmured sullenly.
XXX
"Hey Cerise have you seen-… um… what are you doing?" Cedar asked her roommate as she walked into their dorm.
"Yoga?" Cerise replied innocently.
"Why are you doing yoga on your bed and in your underwear?" Cedar tilted her head to the side in confusion.
"It's more comfortable this way?" The hooded girl grinned nervously showing off her long sharp teeth. "What were you going to ask me about?"
"Oh I was just wondering if you knew where my book on tribal tattoos and artworks went. Blondie has asked me if she could borrow it." Cedar said, seemingly unconcerned by her roommate's strange behavior.
"I think you used it for reference in your latest painting, let me get it for you." Cerise offered, blurring off her bed and reappearing in front of Cedar with book in hand.
"Thanks?" Cedar took the book while casting Cerise a suspicious look. "Well I'll be heading out now." The wooden girl announced before leaving the room.
"That was close!" Briar hissed popping up from under Cerise's bed, clutching Cerise's dress to her half naked frame.
"We've gotta find a place that's more private." Cerise sighed. "I mean even though I'm sure that Cedar would understand, well for one she can't keep a secret, and for another she's… super innocent. Like seriously, her body as it is currently doesn't really allow for a lot of the same emotions and hormones that the rest of us have."
"And Ashlynn's like a virginal goddess! She's really set on the whole after marriage thing for herself and thinks that humans in high school are way too young for anything more than light kissing! She'll put a chastity belt on me if she were to walk in and find out I swear!" Briar shivered and not because she was cold.
"Forest isn't too good, one of the pack or my mom might happen on us or our scent… I really don't want to have to explain this part of my private life to them…" Cerise grimaced.
"So what? We figure out a way to be more sneaky?" Briar seemed to ask the universe at large.
"Or figure out a way of being quicker." Cerise grumbled.
XXX
"You know, I'm starting to like this place, lots of high sunny spots to take a nap on." Kitty stretched her arms above her head as they walked back to the palace from the temple.
"Your feelings are shared by all of the cats and reptiles in the area. And most likely everyone in that temple appreciated having the ability to doze while that chanting droned on and on." Charlotte drawled before yawning. "I'm all set for a nap."
"As am I." Faybelle agreed, she had her arm around Raven's waist and was rubbing circles into the exposed newly decorated skin of the witch's side.
"I have to give that box to my grandmother first and then I'll join you." Raven hummed sleepily, accepting said box from Maddie when the girl summoned it out of her hat.
Raven looked around for her grandmother, eventually spotting the woman sitting under a tree with tiny blue glowing flowers littered along its branches.
"Grandmother." Raven called breaking away from Faybelle's hold as she approached, leaving the fairy to wait a discreet distance away. "I have the box you asked me to retrieve."
Elenore smiled teasingly at her granddaughter as she took the offered object. "Judging by your calm outward appearance I gather that you didn't open it?"
"There are things about your private life that I'd prefer being in the dark about." Raven stated severely, shuttering at the notion of what those love letters contained, making Elenore laugh in delight.
"Not even to sate your curiosity of who your grandfather is?" The woman asked once she had calmed down. "You may say that you don't care but I know that you are at least curious."
Raven shook her head. "There is far too much for me to worry about right now, after this is all over maybe I will seek out my grandfather, but right now I must not lose focus."
Elenore smiled sadly. "That seems to be a trait that all Queen witches seem to share; we put focus and practicality over our own emotions."
"And that's a bad thing?" Raven asked, blinking worriedly at her grandmother.
"It is what has kept us alive since the bad old days." Elenore sighed. "Though sometimes our decisions to do the right thing may haunt us for years afterwards."
"Did you ever wish that you had told my grandfather the truth?" The younger asked, though she already suspected the answer.
"Yes." Elenore confessed without shame. "My decision to not tell him might have been the right one… that still does not excuse the fact that he did, and still does deserve to know the truth. But as you well know, our situation has not been at all simple and for years we have not had the luxury to follow our own emotions completely in our decisions in life. Actually I think that you starting your little rebellion against becoming the Evil Queen was the first time in a while that one of us had managed to both follow the heart and do something that benefited our lands."
Elenore smiled approvingly at Raven. "You look just as lovely with your hair short as it was long." The elder observed reaching up to briefly run her fingers through the younger's chin-length hair.
"Personal business aside I'd like to ask you about the two young boys who helped you gather this much intelligence against our enemies. Would you say that they are trustworthy?" Elenore spoke retreating her hand and adopting a more professional air.
"Incredibly so." Raven swore. "They've been so nice about helping us out like this… though they are growing worried. Daring Charming on more than one occasion has offered to loan out his kingdom's armed troops to aid us if needed. I told him that if it came down to that we would take him up on that offer."
"If things turn sour we certainly could need the help." Elenore mused. "Raven, would you feel comfortable telling them more about what is going on? You did say in our correspondence that several individuals at your school are very close to figuring out the nature of your bridal tattoos, and your allies might be even safer if they knew what was going on and how to spot and avoid trouble."
"I'll text them to ask if they would meet with me when I get back." Raven promised. "Grandmother… there is one more person who I'd like to inform about everything." Raven shifted nervously. "Apple White my roommate has been slowly going out of her mind with worry and… I am getting tired of hiding such important information from her… I'm not sure if she'll be able to understand the cultural aspects completely but I'd rather tell her my reasoning's and let her yell at me for my rash decisions than let her go grey from the worry in the secrecy."
"Is this the princess whom you have been trying to get over being in love with?" Elenore leaned forward in her wheelchair, her smile knowing.
The younger's blush was all the answer that was needed.
"If you feel as though you can trust her without getting us all killed then I have no problems with it. And besides what better way to see how she is able to stand up against the insanity that has followed our family around for close to four generations." Elenore huffed. "If she can't deal with it then you might just be able to move on right away, however if she can handle it, then things get more complicated but at least you know that you have a friend that you can trust."
Raven grinned, feeling a little better. "My thanks grandmother."
"And thank you child, for going to the trouble of retrieving this little box of memories from that old secret hiding place. I'm surprised that it was still there after all these years." Elenore smirked soberly.
"Actually it turned out that it wasn't in your hiding place, I ran into the Headmaster at your and grandfather's old spot and apparently he had been the one to find the box years ago." Raven shrugged. "For some reason he had held onto them and he was actually very nice about giving them to me to return to you."
Elenore's eyes widened as her breath hitched. "O-oh my." The woman coughed. "How… kind of him to go to the trouble."
"Yeah, his face went really red when I asked him if he had read those letters." Raven snickered. "But in all honesty the Headmaster is a nice guy under all that gruffness and traditional values."
"Oh?" Elenore tilted her head as she narrowed her eyes at the younger. "How so? Would you say that he has treated you well? He has never… been too hard on you for your bloodline or for your cause has he?"
"More annoying than anything else." Raven rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he did try his hand at some failed underhanded tricks to get me to sign the Book, but he's only done that when I somehow manage to freak him out with facts about the cold terrible truth about my life and he becomes worried about me. He used to organize these little get-togethers between me and the other maidens to try to encourage me that being a fairytale villain wasn't such a bad thing, the first few times it just made me irritated but after a while I started feeling sorry for him and those pitifully hopeful looks he kept sending my way until I did something minorly devious just to make him feel better. Though he's stopped trying that in the past several weeks. But overall he's a good person, a bit weird, but one of the few that seems to have more of a sense of pride for our family's former title than I ever could."
"Hmmm." Elenore placed her fingers to her bottom lip contemplatively. "Thank you granddaughter you have been most helpful."
XXX
Elenore did not know what she had been expecting when she had opened the box later that night in her assigned room, but the freshly white envelope startled her slightly. It contrasted starkly with the yellowing aged and worn ones.
Her fingers move of their own accord as they deftly worked the letter open in delicate slow movements, her eyes skimming over the hastily written scrawl a few times before the information sinks fully into her brain.
The tone of his writing seemed apologetic and sorrowful, though there were hints of anger and betrayal in more than a few sentences.
He had found out about her daughter being his daughter as well, and that Raven was their granddaughter. He was just as hurt that she had never told him, as he felt guilty for all the trouble that he had caused her, he held much regret for many choices that he made over the years.
And he said that he still loved her, never was able to get over her.
Elenore breathed in a breath, then another, and then one more before the air was able to reach her lungs.
What was she to do? Do the logical thing and ignore this? Or do the right thing and wright back?
Elenore debated over the pros and cons for what could have been hours (she wasn't exactly keeping track) before finally flicking her wrist to summon a pad of paper and a quill pen to float in front of her.
XXX
Clawstorm found herself in a dilemma.
Since about the third day that she had gone back to school she had noticed that Humphrey was in possession of the folder containing the encrypted documents that would prove her innocence and true motivations to most of the crimes she had been charged with over the years.
She had known ever since she discovered that the real Book had been discovered and messed with that somebody had those documents as well, the question was whether or not they cared enough to decipher them.
She didn't know how to feel about that; on one hand it would be nice for her mother and daughter to know that she wasn't a genocidal goon, but on the other hand a great deal of the peace that ensued after she had been locked away was due to the fact that her land's enemies became too terrified of her, and in extension her family as a whole to want to do anything seriously sinister to them or their home. If they found out that she wasn't actually all that evil they could take it as a sign of weakness.
Caught in her indecision she let Humphrey continue to scratch his head over- yet methodically and determinately begin to slowly decipher the main parts of the documents for a while, both hoping that he figured it out and dreading the day he did.
Her indecision problem was forcibly solved for her the day the foreign news articles about how several of her land's enemies had been arrested or were under suspicion for various crimes filled her designated computer monitor while she was doing work at the News Club.
Like an animal that could see that it was about to become cornered Clawstorm knew that her enemies might lash out in response to this, it was the beginning of more trouble.
Mira began to hum quietly, discreetly, eventually braving to sing a few words, then a few more, until her soft voice carried around the quiet room for at least Humphrey to hear.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder who you are…"
"Eureka!" Humphrey cheered his hands flying over his notes and the documents as the code suddenly began working itself out in front of him.
Mira schooled her features and exchanged confused glances with the rest of the club as the blond boy continued to work.
"Mira you're brilliant! You've solved the key to the code!" Humphrey declared surprising the witch when he practically flew over to give her a hug and kiss her cheek before gathering his things and dashing out of the room in a whirl of excited humming to the tune of an old children's song.
"Um, thank you?" Mira called after the boy's retreating form. "Does anybody know what that was all about?" She asked the rest of the room innocently.