"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
Don't any of you make a damned Rick and Morty joke
…
"Just don't tell anyone about the truth. I'm gathering money and strength for the waves I must face... If the royalty in this country finds out and interferes again..."
"I understand... You know, our king was once considered an extremely wise man."
Naofumi gave him a parting glance, before turning to leave, "That's really hard to believe."
...
They continued their travels for a time. Everyone continued their roles, with Filo putting in a little more effort, which they made sure to praise her for. Naofumi divided up his time more between modifying seeds, brewing medicine and studying his enchanting, not having the materials to actually practice it currently.
'Teal' as Raphtalia named it had grown quite a bit larger. Raphtalia decided on the name after Teal could start talking and she asked Teal if they were a boy or a girl. Teal responded with one word, "Both". Raphtalia said 'Teal' was perfect as it is a name for both boys and girls. It also represented their colors of blue and green. She ignored the eyes when naming Teal. If Monti's evil eyes didn't need mentioning, then neither did Teal's.
Monti and Filo loved the name and expressed their agreement to Raphtalia. This made Naofumi feel kinda upset, only a little bit. Monti and Filo tried to cheer him up by talking about how much they liked their own names. It didn't work. He got over it, but that only meant it was now available to be teased about.
As Teal grew, they sported two blood red eyes mostly hidden beneath brilliantly blue flower petals, it was nearly time to uproot it. Teal hadn't spoken much. It showed a capacity for speech early and so Raphtalia and Filo would take turns reading to it, trying to get it to learn more words. Teal was perfectly capable of speaking soon after, but only spoke when it needed something, such as when it asked Monti to let it get some sunlight.
The others thought Teal talked so little because they had more growing to do, but Naofumi figured Teal was just wary of them or maybe shy. He'd watch their eye movements and could tell a lot of thought was going on behind them. He tried his best to peel back it's defenses by talking to it often, but that didn't seem to help.
This continued for some time
...
-Melromarc Embassy in Faubrey-
...
The queen had just received the latest report from the capital from a shadow, only to be met by another shadow reporting.
"Do you have a shield hero update?"
"Yes, my queen."
"Begin." She prompted, doing her best to stay on top of the situation.
"The Village of Lerno was nearly destroyed prior to the shield heroes arrival."
"What!? What is happening in my kingdom? a whole village? How?"
"It was Princess Malty..."
The queen raised her hand and destroyed a painting of her daughter with swift ice magic, it seemed to placate her a bit.
"... Continue." She growled
"She has been a member of the spear heroes party as you well know. Though she acts as it's leader in nearly every way. Lerno was going through a tough famine it seems."
"I sent a hefty amount of resources their way... Bandits?"
"Unlikely. Maybe a shadow should check to see if they even left the capital... As I was saying, Princess Malty and the spear hero undertook an effort to help the village."
"That may be the only thing Malty has ever done to show potential as a member of royalty."
"They brought back a seed. The result of mighty alchemy of an older era. Told the people it was a seed of miracles. It grew fast proving it's power"
The queen was getting nervous. Malty and success rarely share a sentence.
"It grew and grew into a mighty monster that spawned more monsters, just a little while after Princess Malty and the spear hero had departed. The villagers had to escape the village and build a shoddy defensive line nearby."
She had many questions, but one matter far above the others, "Casualties?"
"... 22... It would of been much higher, but the shield hero appeared and cured all the sick and injured within the hour. Many had conditions the doctors couldn't even begin to tackle."
The shadow tried to soften it, but nearly two dozen people died. The cause was royalty. Further confirming to the shield hero how little royalty cares about the common man.
"The monsters?"
"Eradicated, wiped out to the last by the shield hero's second hour there."
"Then we need to act. We need to provide aid before they feel we abandoned them, if they already haven't."
"Unnecessary my queen. The shield hero solved that too."
She wanted to be grateful for his help, but he was making her look like a fool.
"He modified the monsters seed throughout the night and some of the following day. He was able to use some strange powers of his shield to produce 100 plants that grow between five to ten fruits per day, each larger than your fist. They should also last several generations, if what the shield hero said is to be believed."
"So... their famine is dealt with. They even make enough to trade for other goods too."
"Yes. Though there are two issues."
"and they are?"
"Firstly the shield hero once again took in a dangerous monster. He heavily modified a seed and produces a plant monster that he took with him when he left."
"That's now a party of five? Dammit! He doesn't need us in the slightest... Our failures are his strength and if he truly can modify plant-life so freely, it too will be without issue... speaking of, what's the other issue?"
The shadow hesitated. "We've failed... A shadow was caught. The wave beast changed direction suddenly and at great speed. It lead him to one of our shadows unfortunately..."
"So now we've lost a shadow?"
"No my queen. That thing, Monti it was called. It demanded for the shadow to reveal themselves. Even threatened them. When they caved and he saw they were human, he simply warned the shadow to avoid the plant monster infested area and to avoid it."
"That's it?"
"The shadow asked why he seemed surprised to see a human if it was demanding for someone to reveal itself, It said quote 'I didn't expect a human, but a person wasn't out of the question. If something can talk then they're a person. That's what my dad told me.' He let her go right after."
"Do you still consider this beast a threat?"
The shadow sighed, "It does keep showing a case that it shouldn't be considered a threat, but I disagree. It only holds back by the shield hero's will. If the worst ever came to pass and the shield hero died or even just wasn't able to order it properly... It could go on a rampage. That thing may be able to summon the wave for all we know."
"I'm starting to find disagreement in your stance on this issue, but I'll continue to respect it for now. Anything else?"
"No my queen."
"Dismissed."
...
-Back at the cart-
...
One morning Teal asked Naofumi something out of the blue.
"Why do you destroy those plants?"
Naofumi stared at it for a moment. Not sure if he heard correctly at first. His head eventually caught up to him as he looked down to see that it was watching him make medicine. "Did it think it was next?"
"I need them to make medicine"
"medi-cine?" Teal learned another word.
"Yes. It's a drink that mends injuries and helps one recover from sickness."
"Ahh... So that's their purpose."
"Yeah. Many different plants have different effects..."
"Then what is my purpose?"
Raphtalia was listening in on the conversation, but wanted to hear Naofumi's answer and so kept quiet. Naofumi properly guessed how important a question like this was to Teal. Something so smart, but so inexperienced would get hung up on personal quandaries.
"You... have two purposes. The first is that you are a member of the family."
"Family, fami-ly... I've heard that word a lot, what does it mean?"
Naofumi decided to speak in a more accurate way, to help Teal understand. "Usually it refers to a group of animals that include a breeding pair and their offspring... But we are a family because we choose to be. Helping and loving each other provides us with great comfort. Without it... I'd be quite the sight worse."
"... So I should love you?" Teal was still trying to figure out it's purpose.
"Well I certainly hope you would... We've already gave you life, gave you a name. We've become quite attached to the idea of having you. If you felt the same, that'd make us happy."
Teal was only kinda getting what he was saying, but it didn't answer the question she started talking to him for.
"Then what is this second purpose?"
Naofumi was beginning to see what Teal was wanting, but he couldn't give them a satisfying answer.
"The second reason, that's for you to find out, I have no idea." He said it honestly.
"What?" There was a little bit of emotion in that.
"You are your own person. I'm sure there will come a time when you will want to do something, to achieve something, that no one else gave you. All people are like that"
"...But I'm not a person, I-"
"You have intelligence to speak with me and the will to disagree with me. You're a person."
"...What is your purpose?" If Teal could not get her answer directly, she could piece it together using this persons purpose.
"Me? ... I have three purposes. I was summoned to this world from another one. They bound me with this shield. Now I must defeat these events called the waves of catastrophe. They're basically natural disasters with a strong monster at the center, kill that monster, stop the wave."
"Will I be fighting these... waves?"
"We can answer that in a bit. My second purpose is to gather strength to fight those waves. Saving people in need to gain coin, defeating dangerous monsters to grow stronger. They benefit us and them."
"So the medi-cine. You do it to achieve your second purpose?"
"Yes. I also have come to like it and helping people have nearly overshadowed it a few times... My third purpose... Is one me and Raphtalia share. We wish to be happy. To achieve this, we came to care for one another. We raised Monti and Filo as our children to make us happy. To be called mother and father was weird at first, but it's become something I cherish... I find no greater joy than being of use to others. It's almost like the thing I was born to do..."
"Did you... raise me for that purpose as well?"
"I'd love it if we can get to the point that you depend on us, all four of us. To call Raphtalia mom and me dad. Calling Monti brother and Filo sister. We'd really like that. I understand that something like a family isn't a very plant-like thing, but you're also a person..."
"..." Teal stopped talking for the time being. It dropped the question of fighting in the wave in order to focus on what it deemed more important.
Naofumi saw this and let it go. He got a conversation out of Teal. It even asked many questions. He saw it as great progress.
Nearly an hour later Teal asked Monti to move them into the sunlight and he did so happily. Asking Teal if it felt good. Teal responded with a question.
"What is your purpose?" Teal lacked necessary information
"What?" Monti was put off a bit. This was the first time Teal said something to him that wasn't a request for sunlight.
"Mon-ti. What is your purpose?"
"... You're talking about what you and dad were talking about earlier? ... I guess I have two."
"What are they?"
Monti struggled a bit. He didn't mind answering Teal, but he had to figure it out first.
"I have the purpose of a dutiful son and brother. To show love and loyalty back to those that gifted it to me. Yeah..."
Teal seemed less interested in this answer, "The other?"
"To fight in the waves and kill wave bosses."
"Did ... fath-er give you that purpose?" Teal called Naofumi father, but only as a way to communicate faster.
"No... When I was born, mom was scared of me. My biological parent was a wave boss. Mom's own parents were killed by one. It made it hard for her to love me the same way dad did..., but she eventually did. I'm thankful every day for that. A mother's love is a wonderful thing to have..."
"So you do it for her?" Teal wanted to drive to the heart of the issue.
"No." This answer surprised them both. "I do it because I don't know what I am really. I've never experienced a wave. I want to be different from the other wave monsters. I want to fight in them and kill a wave boss to prove that the person I am right now is the real me. Like they've raised me beyond my base nature. If their teachings win out, then that means I'm really their son and my origin truly doesn't matter."
To not know what or who you are. These feelings Teal understood.
"So I... should... hmm"
Teal considered this, but they still didn't have a conclusion.
...
-Hours later-
...
Teal was still ruminating when a shout came from Raphtalia.
"Filo stop the cart!"
Before Filo even made it to a full stop Raphtalia leapt from the cart and took off. Monti wasn't scouting at the time so he helped Filo out of her harness, while Naofumi caught up to Raphtalia. As soon as he saw the reason, he understood.
Raphtalia was face to face with a former wave zombie turned skeleton. It was trying to attack some small slime monster. After a moment of observation Raphtalia turned.
"So that bandit was telling the truth?"
"It seems like it... but there is one thing I'm curious about that can be proven right now."
Naofumi slowly approached the zombie and it ignored him as he thought. The question on Naofumi's mind was a simple one. He stood between the skeleton and the blobs. The skeleton halted a swing and began to sluggishly walk around Naofumi. Naofumi allowed it and returned to Raphtalia, several feet away.
"It's not just ignoring people, it actively avoided harming me. It places avoiding hurting people higher than killing monsters..."
Raphtalia had to agree based on that small exchange "Given that... what do we do? Leave it be?"
"I'm not quite sure..."
As they considered their options, Monti and Filo carrying Teal came to meet them.
Monti recalled the skeleton that attacked him, this one was identical. He looked to his parents who seemed to consider what to do. Filo on the other hand skipped towards the skeleton, stopping 5 feet or so from it. She wasn't being reckless. She knew difference in speed. This also pulled Naofumi and Raphtalia out of their thoughts.
The skeleton eventually turned to Filo and Teal. It shambled towards her as FIlo walked backwards at a matching pace. She was curious too. The skeleton swung his sword at thin air infront of him, never reaching Filo. After the third swing she moved fast over next to her family. The skeleton lost sight of her and stopped for a moment, then it turned back towards the closest blob and advanced on them.
"What is that?" Teal asked.
Wanting to encourage them to speak more, Naofumi quickly explained it.
"For what purpose?" Teal was still on this pursuit of purpose.
"That's what we want to know too..."
"Maybe we should stop here? Midday break?" Raphtalia proposed.
"You heard your mother. I going to make some food. You three stay clear of that thing, okay?"
And so the party began having their midday break. Monti offered Filo another ride, but Filo in a rare act declined, preferring to spend some time with Teal. Filo was the most outgoing and outspoken of the group, if anyone could get Teal to talk it'd be her.
Raphtalia kept switching between watching the skeleton and watch the kids. Naofumi was making a large amount of food, seasoned strips of meat with an accompanying soup. Monti chose a rare act of taking a midday nap. As diligent as he may act, he was still mentally a child, it must wear him out. Meanwhile Teal decided to continue their questioning, with Filo as the new target.
"Filo... What is your purpose."
"Huh" Filo was not one to get a question that was both this simple and this complicated.
"... What is... it that you live for?" Teal tried to reword it for Filo, but in doing so, might of gotten some of an answer before she responded.
"I don't know. Like to pull the cart and eat? Oh! and to protect the family. Family always comes first."
"Family comes first?"
"Yup. Family is the most important thing, even above food."
"hmm..."
While picking up Teal's intent was harder, Filo was feeling something. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I want to know my purpose."
That was a little more sophisticated a question than Filo thought she could answer. "Well... that's tough."
Filo tried to think about something to say to help Teal. She wanted to help Teal, but thinking like this was not what she was built for.
"Sorry. I'm not good at this stuff. You come up with anything yet?"
"I don't know. I've spoken... to father, brother and now you..." Teal didn't even notice their word choice.
"Then why not talk to mom?"
Teal hesitated. Raphtalia spoke to Teal every day, but never about anything really. weather, how they felt. Before Teal could give an answer, Filo grabbed her pot and walked her up to Raphtalia.
"What is it Filo? Lunch will be ready soon."
"Yay~! oh, but um. That's not it. Teal here had questions and I can't answer them."
Teal had now experienced their first sweat drop. Raphtalia sat down more on Teal's level. Filo smelled the food and left the two of them to bug Naofumi about food. Raphtalia sat there quietly for a bit waiting for Teal to speak.
"Filo is the worst..." Teal finally said
"Why would you say that? She carries you around a lot and does her best to keep you company."
"Yes... I had a question... one I've asked all of them... What is your purpose?"
Raphtalia heard the initial conversation between Naofumi and Teal about this. She understood that Teal was asking this because they wanted to use other's motivations to try and figure their own. "Purpose... I know a lot about that."
"Teal what I'm about to talk to you about stays between us, understood?"
"Yes."
"Some of this I haven't told Naofumi-sama yet. Because he doesn't need to know. I won't be telling you everything either. Only what I think is relevant... I've had a lot of purposes..."
Teal was already listening with much focus.
"From when I was born, to until the first wave of catastrophe... My purpose was to be a good daughter for my parents. I like to think I did that well... But then they died. I only had their words to guide me and a mostly destroyed village to live in... I was told to keep smiling in the hard times and so I did. My purpose became to repair my village and raise it to full force once more. That also didn't happen."
Teal was listening very intently now. Raphtalia was becoming quite emotional.
"Knights came and stole me away. I wasn't allowed a purpose of my own for a while. That's why I'm telling you this... Not having a purpose... I had to do what others told me too, my own will denied. It was the most awful feeling that exists in this world..."
Raphtalia felt something. Teal had reached up a newly grown branch and wiped the tear from her eye. That was the moment Raphtalia believed Teal would find an answer, but she continued, for the both of them.
"Thanks. Hmm, eventually the person who decided my purpose for me was Naofumi-sama. He wanted to live and having me helped with that. Along the way we found more reasons to live and more purposes to our lives. Even after I didn't have to listen to him anymore, I followed him, out of gratitude and admiration... and out of love."
She turned to Teal and Teal met her eyes. It was her first time matching eyes with another.
"Naofumi-sama is tormented by this country. The people in charge hate him and use lies to hurt him. His shield forces him to fight life or death battles for those that wish he'd die. It'd be too much for anyone. And so we took Monti and Filo as our children. It's not normal, but it made Naofumi really happy and it ended up making me feel really happy too. Being Naofumi-sama's sword and being a mother has placed me in a home, when I had previously been without one."
Teal spoke, "He... father... said I had to decide my purpose, but all four of you... your purposes are other people."
"That doesn't mean he was wrong. Naofumi chose to be healer and helper, he chose to be this precious thing to me, he chose to be a father. Just as I chose to repair that village, to become his sword, to take up the mantle of Monti and Filo's mother... We chose these purposes, even if they're for other people."
"Then why did you all choose purposes for others?"
"Because we don't want to be alone, because we want to be wanted. It sounds kinda selfish, but I think everyone wants those thi-"
Raphtalia suddenly drew her blade and halted the sword of the skeleton inches from Teal. During their conversation, Raphtalia had become less focused on keeping track of the skeleton. At some point it must of wandered close enough to aggro to Teal. Raphtalia pushed it's blade away with ease. It found it's footing and went in again. This time taking a splash of acid from Teal.
No one had seen Teal attack before and so, didn't know what they were capable of. As the skeleton fell to pieces mostly turned to liquid before it hit the ground, Raphtalia turned to Teal. They lightly thanked one another. With the skeleton dead, she had no reason to stay here and grabbed Teal as she returned to the savory smells of Naofumi's cooking.
While they all sat around with a level of excitability as they ate their food, Teal began to understand themself a bit. Doing so, let them have a fuller opinion of their family. "...Family."
Over the next few days Teal continued to grow; physically, mentally, and emotionally. They opened up more to each of the family and even made an effort to call them father, brother, etc. It made them happy and it was all it took for Teal to want to continue doing it. The positive emotions caused by producing positive emotions in others, this was something Teal sought and upon receiving it, they understood their family's reasons all the more.
Finally the time to 'pick' Teal arrived. The family gathered around for the event. Naofumi needed to wait until Teal could catch up emotionally to their mental abilities. This was because Naofumi believed the wider the gap between them the more difficult he thought it'd be for Teal. Now he was going to 'pick' Teal and in doing so increase their stats by 30%. Both their combat stats and the stats Naofumi could modify. Meaning their intelligence would increase further.
"I'm ready father." Teal confirmed before he started.
Right before doing so he modified Teal's stats one last time. lowering Production by 8 and Immunity by 10, then increasing Growth by 18 to 20. Before the glow from the modification had faded, Naofumi bent down and pulled Teal from the soft soil of the pot. This caused yet another glow to indicate the all three of his [Forage] abilities triggered successfully. By the time all the light around Teal was gone they had gone under an incredible transformation. Whether it was from the modification, the 'picking', or both.
They now looked very human in shape. Their eyes were the same as before. Their body a collection of folded leaves into a larger biomass to mimic humans, though the skin was a light green. Their overall structure was androgynous. The flower atop their head was much larger, coming down around their head, resembling human hair that slightly hid their face a bit, their matching blue lips curled into a smile to greet them all.
"It's nice to meet you all, now that I'm like this..."
Teal took this form to be like her family. She tried to make the body as close to them as they could manage. It was due to this that unwanted functions existed. For example. Teal was now crying. Naofumi, then Raphtalia then Monti and Filo hugged her and greeted Teal warmly.
It took a few minutes for Teal to calm down. Teal was now incredibly intelligent, more than the rest of the family combined twice over. However, their emotions grew too and with it a need to re-balance themselves a bit. Most of them understood, Filo did not. She was so excited and wouldn't give Teal a moment to collect themselves. Not that Teal minded that much.
"Yay~! Now I have a new... brother? ... Sister? ...Teal, which should I call you?"
It was an incredibly inappropriate question, but at the same time Teal was once again thankful. Teal needed to sort through themselves first, so this seemed like a good first step. That said, Teal really couldn't care that much. Teal thought for only a brief moment, but in that time many factors were addressed internally. The answer-
"I guess 'sister'. In this form father will be getting cloths for me, correct? I'd want something more like Filo or mother... Just by looking at them, I can tell pants are just awful."
It mattered so little to Teal that the deciding factor was that she'd prefer a dress or skirt. The family accommodated her immediately.
"Ha, take that Monti! Now you're outnumbered 3 to 2!" Of course only Filo would of asked for such a reason.
The family never returned to the road after their midday break that day. Camping on the side of the road without complaint. They all wanted to socialize more with Teal. As they discovered, Teal was still the same as she was before. Shy, but thoughtful. She spoke the least, but seemed to have the most to say.
Naofumi lent Teal a very long shirt to use as a makeshift dress, he'd need to find something a bit better. After all, he didn't plan on returning to the capital just yet. Teal should be able to make due in normal cloths for the most part.
Filo drug both Monti and Teal out to play with Raphtalia's ball. Despite the careless attitude she presented, Filo made sure to tell Teal that they had to be gentle with the ball. Upon hearing that, Naofumi decided to work on his design for the gift he planned for the kids. Raphtalia was now seeing the plans for the first time and was equal parts humored and annoyed.
"Something like that... It'll cost a lot." She told him.
"Maybe not... We have light metal and crystal ore stored away. I can enchant it myself. All I need is a really strong leather of some kind. If we can get that-"
"Then you'll strong-arm Mr. Erhart into making it at a heavy discount?"
"Exactly" Naofumi said with no shame.
Raphtalia didn't scold him.
...
-That night-
...
Teal didn't have to breathe the same as the rest of her family. So she didn't get winded and tiredness was harder to acheive. Due to this, Monti and Filo were fast asleep long before she was. She was actually counting on this, as she had several things she needed to discuss with her parents. Naofumi and Raphtalia figured that was possible and left themselves approachable to her, waiting.
"I had some things I wanted to talk about" Teal said openly. Regardless of how smart she was, there would never be a need or want to be less than honest with family.
"We figured, what is it?" Raphtalia replied.
"It's about purpose. My purpose." There were no longer pauses in her speaking. Instead of trying to reach a conclusion while speaking, she already knew what she wanted to say.
"After I transformed I quickly came to understand what this body can do. What I can do. I can change any aspect of my form at any time, as long as the structure is either this one or a natural plant-like structure. I can; form bark skin as armor, create acids and bases, poisons, pollen, form vines and much more."
"Wow." That's all Naofumi could say. The Bioplant had 9 mutation and could become all sorts of things. Teal now had 33 mutation after the boosts. Meaning she was more than 3 times as mutatable as it was. So this should of been within Naofumi's scope of reason, but it wasn't.
"It is because of these abilities that I've decided on two of my four purposes."
"Four? I see you are ambitious..." Naofumi waited to be told them.
"I wish to use this might to fight in the waves, to ensure your safety. That is my second purpose"
They didn't ask about the first just yet.
"My abilities would also allow me to create medical herbs for father. While it would need to be slow to ensure quality, I want to help you save people whenever I can. This will be my third purpose."
They looked approvingly at her, she smiled a bit more as she continued.
"My fourth purpose... This is one I felt within me briefly when I first gained life. It was a need to grow to feed people. While this feels inherited, I accept it as mine." She said without wavering.
Naofumi and Raphtalia both knew she was right. Teal had deduced her purpose from a single vague feeling she had in the brief moment of her creation, despite not knowing about the alchemist responsible for the Bioplants creation. Their approval brightened more. Teal turned around and started walking over to the spot she'd ingrain herself into as a form of sleep. She spoke now, not wanting to be show her face.
"And it goes without saying, that my first and most important purpose is to live with and love my family as long as I can... I'll leave you two alone now, feel free to breed."
Naofumi and Raphtalia went from roused in their hearts to freaking out over the comment. Placing Teal out of embarrassment and placing it on them instead, as planned.
"W-we-wait, Teal!?" Raphtalia was tripping on her words.
"Don't say stuff like that so openly!" Naofumi tried to scold her.
"It was a joke... If you two actually engaged in breeding, you might not have created me and taken me in... So thank you for being such prudes."
That solidified it in Naofumi's mind. Teal may act all shy and reserved, but she's probably a huge pervert herself.
.
[Author's Notes]
I nearly went with the suggestion of 'Lante' from the reviews, pronounced Lawn-tea. However it sounded too close to Monti. After scouring the internet (spamming google results) for mythological flowers, famous plant monsters and plant names used as baby names, I came up with nothing I liked. It was only after I found out a friend's friend was named Teal that I realized it was a unisex name. And Teal as a color does work for her colors. It seemed to fit for a name that the thoughtful Raphtalia would come up with.
The naming of Teal added two days all on it's own.
Teal goes by she, but also doesn't really care if that didn't come across.
I have one more kid I absolutely am introducing soon (2-3 chapters?) After that I had another, but they may be cut. I'm still trying to sort my feelings on the matter.
More damned skeletons. Why do they mow down weak mobs all over the place? Why do they refuse to hurt both humans and demihumans? What is their purpose.
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