["Curiosity killed the cat"--how many times in her life has she heard that old adage? She's always been a curious girl, far too curious for her own good, and there are few things more frustrating than knowing that someone has a secret and there's no way of finding out what it is. But why does she want to know so badly? It's not just for the sake of curiosity. Some things are better off left alone. She knows that all too well--she's held Pandora's Box in her hands before, how could she not know all too well that some boxes shouldn't be opened, some secrets shouldn't be released?

Then why is it she wants to know?

She keeps her eyes on Megumi's face; she'll be brave, she won't give in to the urge to stare at her teacup once again. If she can't face this, how can she ever expect to face any of the rest of it?

Perhaps she's known the answer all along, and just never put it into words until now.]

I'm no great magician, and hardly even a good one at that. But even I know that in order to break a curse, you have to know what went into it first.

[But talking to Megumi is yielding insights that she never would've reached on her own, and she's starting to realize just how much she doesn't know--and how many things she wouldn't have known, if she'd never been able to have this conversation. He lied to her to protect her; that much was easy enough to figure out on her own. But she'd assumed that reaching him meant getting him to stop lying, to trust her enough that she could listen to those horrors and help to ease them through the retelling. She'd assumed that protecting her meant that he didn't trust her.

And now it's as though she's been handed the puzzle piece she's been searching for all this time, the one key piece that makes all the others she's collected fall into place. It's far from enough to solve the puzzle entirely, but the picture is clearer now, and she can start to see where the missing ones must fit, even if she doesn't know for certain what they are.

She's been waiting for clues that would never come, and missing the ones she didn't know to look for.]

I thought--that being his friend meant showing him that I wasn't afraid. That no matter what it was...that I needed to know the things he hides, so that I could say that they didn't matter to me. To say that without knowing would be shallow, and foolish, and it wouldn't mean anything at all. I thought...that when he hid from me, it was because he didn't trust me enough to know that I could handle it.

[And she'd been wrong. So wrong. And she hates to be wrong.]

There was a curse once...a curse where I went into his dreams, and the things I saw--he told me to stay away. He always tells me to stay away, I'll get hurt, that awful things will happen to me if I keep trying to hard to break the glass. That was so early on. So I've always known the danger, even if...I didn't always believe it, or understand how real and how dark it was.

[She pauses, considering her words.]

The things I've done and seen...maybe they aren't as awful. Maybe they can't even come close to comparing. But I know about hard choices, and I know that some things never change.

[And then, after a slow breath:]

I once went to a dragon, willingly, to die for the sake of my parents and my kingdom. And I once killed a witch because it meant the difference between life and death for people that I cared about. If being his friend means I have to suffer for it along the way, then I'll endure it. I'll find a way to endure it, whatever comes of it. And if caring about him means I'm putting myself in danger because of it...then it's not any different than anything else I've done or would do for the people I care for.