Guess Loren was headed back into the woods. Well, he had some experience with evil trees, at least, so sick ones should be no problem. ”I’ll check out the Greatwood then. Only after properly understanding its risks, of course.” He added that last part for Jigano’s benefit: although the Launceleyn still felt he’d survive whatever he might encounter there, he figured there was speedy and then there was downright reckless. Besides, he knew it was the home of the Fae, and relations with them were already strained, so the summoner hardly wanted to contribute to that.
”That’s odd, though, isn’t it? How it can spread among people anywhere, but only between plants and animals in the Greatwood? I wonder if the flora and fauna of the Hollowed Grounds have some property that those in the Greatwood lack, or vice versa, or if its a feature of the geography instead. And what about people in particular that makes them susceptible? Do you know if anyone’s tried to take a plant from here and exposed it to the blight in the Greatwood? Perhaps it was unwise to speak so cavalierly about the transmission, given that the white-haired man was sick, and it was likely someone else had already investigated this. If so, Loren had no doubt he’d be swiftly corrected.
As the bard spoke of his ailment (or his curse, rather, as it seemed too extreme for a common illness), all the Launceleyn could do was give the other man a sympathetic look. ”Well, given that I didn’t know, you were successful in that much, at least.” The summoner did his best to keep his voice cheerful, but given his own lingering sadness and the situation they were in, it didn’t really work. He didn’t bother trying to reassure the white-haired man that they’d find a cure: it would sound hollow coming from Loren. Instead, he chose to try and make up for his behavior when they’d first met and the Launceleyn hadn’t really been himself yet. ”Yeah, I was a real asshole. Sorry again.” The easy admission and levity seemed out of place on the somber and solemn summoner, but it didn’t last long. ”But, despite my first impression, I would appreciate it if you came to me if you thought there was any way I might be useful.” The rage-filled monster in the woods that had been Loren that day was a product of his family, he realized now; seeing them, even in a vision granted by a puddle, must’ve triggered something, some reflex deep within the summoner.
Then the family gave him yet another reason to lose his temper. Thankfully, he was only a bit annoyed. ”Seriously?! Maybe knocking the place down and rebuilding from scratch is the solution after all.” He couldn’t help the note of exasperation from creeping into his voice. Honestly, Zariah’s paranoia had been bad, but that sounded so much worse. ”Well, there’s not much I can do about her surveillance, if it even exists. But I’m not too worried. She’s not here, so it’s not like the information can benefit her, and even if she was, what’s the worst she could do, torture me again?” Although the summoner doesn’t know where the sudden bout of gallows humor came from, it seemed entirely appropriate under the circumstances.
Loren hesitated when Jigano brought up the alchemist. ”I’d be happy to meet you in two days at the oasis, but,” the Launceleyn bit his lip, considering. ”Let’s not invite Remi. If it doesn’t work, no harm done and we’ll have avoided wasting his time, and if it does, we can give him some good news for once.” Although mostly Loren was trying to avoid seeing the alchemist so soon after their reunion—he wasn’t sure how he felt about it quite yet, especially for something that was not strictly necessary—he also was legitimately concerned about taking up that most precious resource, time. At the very least, Remi could spend it with Ronin rather than out in the wilderness chasing down a wild theory. Loren waved away Jigano’s concern. ”If anyone is to blame, it’s me and my magic and my lack of imagination.” Indeed, the bard had gone above and beyond, and the summoner was doing the bare minimum he could.
It just didn’t feel like enough.
Jigano managed a wry smile and a nod of acceptance that Loren would learn the risks of the Greatwood. The other man’s follow-up questions had some of the wryness leaving the bard’s smile, a more naturally pleased expression on his face at the scholar’s curiosity and eager desire to learn more. ”Ah, as to that, I’ve been told that it’s not a natural disease.” Remi and Amalia had both informed him of the blight’s roots, though as of yet its purpose was still a mystery. ”It comes from the Voice, and it was her Ascended who initially spread it, though they were used without their knowledge to do so. Given that the Voice slumbered within the barrier for three hundred years, perhaps the plants and animals here developed resistance to it. Perhaps that is why they are so sickly compared to the plants in the Greatwood.” Nature was ever a balance, in his experience. He shook his head though, pushing the thought to the side for later. ”I haven’t heard of such an experiment, but I have been… indisposed of late.” The wryness was back as he glanced down to his traitorous hands, flexing them in spite of their trembling.
He had given in and given up for long enough, though. It was past time to start living up to Edy’s and Amalia’s expectations again.
He offered an ironic little shadow of a bow at the compliment, his grin turning sharp and widening a bit at the apology. ”I’ve a habit of pushing too far, too fast, myself. My apologies to you, as well, for overstepping.” The sharpness remained as he straightened, a flash of his old confidence brightening blue eyes at Loren’s offer. ”I shall take you up on that, I think. If I can work with Wessex, I have no doubt that you and I will be able to do the same.” There was far less antipathy between the two men, for one. And they had a lot more in common, for another.
At the mention of knocking down the Manor, however, the bard looked away, some of the weariness he had been hiding revealing itself again. ”Oh, I have heard several suggestions to set it on fire. I can’t say I’d stop anyone from trying, given what that place has come to represent to many. But it can wait until Flowerbirth, if it comes down to it.” He looked back with an appreciative quirk of his lips at the gallows humor, nodding agreement.
The mention of Remi, it seemed, was less easily accepted, and Jigano felt a wry, self-deprecating amusement at Loren being in the position with the alchemist that he had been in for so long. After their night-flight over the Greatwood he hoped they’d struck a more optimistic balance, but there was no denying the ups and downs of the relationship between bard and manticore. ”He has magic of his own that he wants to experiment with, it sounded like at the meeting. He suggested the three of us get together to try and get different viewpoints on what you’re both attempting… and I suspect he wants to be feeling like he’s doing something. Living with a blighted isn’t… easy,” he chose the word delicately, but didn’t entirely hide his wince. His own mate was taking far too much of the brunt of things when the bard grew too tired to maintain his masks at the end of a long day fighting back the rage within. ”It doesn’t have to be perfect this first time, especially since we won’t have a Long Night monster to test things on yet.” He tilted his head at the Launceleyn, and there might have been something resembling sympathy in his tired eyes. ”For what it’s worth… I’m sorry to be pushing you on this. This business with lost memories and lost loves is… I cannot even imagine how difficult it must be.”
Loren had assumed it wasn’t a natural disease—what with the whole infecting a goddess and all—but hearing Jigano confirm it was useful. The suggestion that the plants and animals near the Spire had an immunity was certainly worth looking into. ”Perhaps. How far away from it from a natural disease is it, do you think? Could it be that by treating it like a regular outbreak we’re going about this the wrong way?” If it operated differently in terms of spread and transmission then maybe all their careful research had been for naught. ”Still, I can take a sample from the Hollowed Grounds and see what happens, since I’m going out there anyway.” The Launceleyn added it to his growing list of tasks. As for the bard’s indisposition, all Loren could do was offer a sympathetic glance.
When the white-haired man apologized and bowed of all things, the summoner firmly shook his head. ”No. You were being kind. I was…” He trailed off, not really sure how to explain it. ”I was out of line, as I've said. But I hope you’ll believe that I was not entirely in my right mind at the time.” Admitting to madness might not be the best strategy, but it shouldn’t be too surprising given his bloodline.
Thankfully, the bard agreed to come find Loren if necessary. He nodded gratefully in response. Somehow, despite the odds, he’d turned this relationship around. They were even joking with one another, strange as that might be. ”I call dibs on setting the first fire. You can do the second one. But I appreciate you not leaving me homeless before Deepfrost, and I’d ask that you at least let me find a new place for me and the kids first.” Honestly, the summoner still didn’t know what he was going to do with Beatrix and Jace.
Loren bit his lip, knowing Jigano was right, and yet still not wanting to involve the alchemist in this unless absolutely necessary. ”I’m sure he’s already doing a lot.” But because the Launceleyn honestly could not say if he was doing this for his sake or for Remi’s, Loren knew he had to say yes. ”Alright fine. But only if he wants to.” Of course the alchemist would want to. It was Remi.
However, as the bard brought up the relationship between the summoner and the alchemist, he felt something flare up within him. ”It’s my own damn fault, and I will deal with it. It will not interfere with the research.” The heat in his words surprised Loren, but then again, he was all so confused and mixed-up inside about the whole thing that maybe it wasn’t surprising as all that. Yes, they’d been lovers. But they weren’t anymore, and Loren knew the other man had moved on. It was time for the Launceleyn to do the same: he just needed to figure out how, and throwing himself at all the problems of the Hollowed Grounds and beyond seemed like the best way to do it.
”I don’t know,” Jigano admitted, frowning thoughtfully at the insightful questions Loren asked. ”Though Remi hasn’t caught it yet, and neither has… the person I live with.” Was there a more tactful way of saying that? Perhaps, but as the anger roiling in him drained away it left him feeling weary and too tired to pursue it. ”So, those who live physically close to the blighted aren’t catching it. It wouldn’t seem to be transferred by breath or bad air, nor skin contact or…” He cleared his throat delicately. ”Ah, close contact in general. We should make a list…” He sighed and reached up to rub a hand over his brow, wondering how to phrase it so as not to accidentally cause a panic. ”I don’t think it’s general knowledge yet, though. I had to have a god tell me that it wasn’t just a lingering effect of my Leafchange fever,” he added wryly.
”It’s an affliction that’s growing increasingly common these days,” the bard acknowledged Loren’s explanation with a bit of his own gallows humor. ”The mood swings are hell, especially when we snap at people who don’t deserve it.” In that way he could understand what had driven Loren, even if it had been stress or sickness or something other than the blight at its root. The result was the same, either way.
”Kids?” He hadn’t seen any children in his brief time in the Manor, but given Edrei’s state of… well, state at the time, that was probably for the best. ”No, at this rate we might as well wait until Flowerbirth. Those who aren’t on Zariah’s ‘Wanted’ lists will probably be fine in the Manor over Long Night. The rest of us can make do in our own homes or the Temple again.” He knew what Rory would choose, of course. He just hoped he would still be sane enough to stay with him when the time came.
Meddling in other people’s personal affairs was not one of Jigano’s better traits, but he found himself lacking the energy to do more than nod tiredly at the Launceleyn’s surge of indignant determination. ”That will do,” he said mildly. ”I’ll check in with him later, then. I suspect he needs to be doing something to help just as much as we do, though. Perhaps we’ll make a breakthrough together that we wouldn’t manage alone.” The other man had powerful magics, while the bard had… well. Not nearly as much to offer, in truth, as Deimos had driven home so bitterly. But he appreciated Remi’s reaching out and trying to keep him involved in spite of that lack.
Jigano was being cagey about his partner, but Loren figured the bard was entirely entitled to his secrets. After all, the two of them were still strangers, even if they’d rapidly progressed from enemies to shaky allies, at least in the fight against the blight and the monsters. That wasn’t the worst foundation in the world, the summoner decided. As the white-haired man commented that they should make a list of all the ways the blight was not transmitted, Loren furrowed his brow for just a moment; then, a piece of paper appeared in his hand. He passed it over to the other man who would see that it said ‘Blight not passed through skin contact, through contact with bodily fluids, or through any known airborne means.’
Examining the list as well, the Launceleyn pursed his lips. ”What about water?” It would be odd if it was passed through water and not other fluids, but Loren was hardly an expert in diseases. ”You’re right, we should write up something more formal about what is known and not known about the blight and post it on the Notice Board.” In the summoner’s mind disseminating information was almost always the best course of action, though he didn’t really know if doing so would be more likely to create a panic.
Maybe it would be best not to say anything about Jigano’s condition, but the other man had brought it up first. ”Well, given how understanding you have been about my own slip I will do my best to extend the same courtesy to you.” It was awkward, and formal, and probably the wrong thing to say under these circumstances, but Loren wasn’t sure there was a right way to tell someone ‘I’ll try not to hold your blight rages against you.’
Everyone seemed to forget about the kids. Sometimes, that included Loren. He sighed, then explained. ”Beatrix my half-sister, who is ten, and Jace, my nephew, who is four. Zariah must’ve left them with Edy and then…” The Launceleyn trailed off, one because he wasn’t entirely sure yet what had happened to them after and two because surely the white-haired man could have imagined the fact of two youngsters suddenly orphaned. It was a sad tale, despite who they were related to. As for Zariah, and her list, well, the summoner was a little confused about why everyone was still so terrified. ”Sounds good to me. Although we should probably do something about those wanted lists you mentioned.” Remi had been hinting that the government was in its infancy, but undoing the past crimes of the previous monarch seemed like a good first step to Loren. Luckily, it wasn’t the librarian’s problem.
At the mention of a breakthrough, Loren gave the bard as much of a smile as the Launceleyn could muster. It wasn’t great. ”Alright. Let me know what he says. Either way, I’ll be at the oasis in two days.” Hesitatingly, Loren added, ”And we wouldn’t have gotten this far without your efforts, it seems. So never doubt that your work isn’t valued.” Granted, the summoner was new to this situation, but even he could see that Jigano had gone above and beyond the call of duty. Especially for someone suffering, it was impressive. Loren just hoped the other man knew that.
For once he wasn't being intentionally mysterious, so much as trying not to rub personal details in the face of someone who the bard didn't think knew of the leatherworker, and whose last known lover had just gotten married to another man. He blinked, however, at the paper that was handed to him, reading over the writing on it - and then laughing, a startled bark of sound that quickly faded as he shook his head ruefully, realizing how silly he had sounded. "Ah... no, sorry. My thoughts jumped ahead of my mouth. I'd meant a list of those afflicted, so we could keep track of who already has it, and if any new infections are cropping up that are related to those already blighted. And... to keep track and make sure no one who has it is hurting themselves or others," he added reluctantly. "I'd write up my own symptoms and post them but, honestly, I'm concerned with how to word it so we don't start a panic... or a backlash against those already infected." He echoed Loren's thoughts aloud unknowingly, his expression growing darker and more pained. "Though if I had to guess... blood might be a route of transmission. It's not something I'm eager to test, though, to be honest, even on animals. The last thing we need is to deliberately infect more creatures with it." He had a bad feeling about what those animals would start to do, if they weren't already tearing into other creatures out in the Greatwood.
His lips quirked a little, gratitude and gallows humor lifting past the exhaustion that was settling over him in the wake of fighting back his earlier spikes of temper. "Honestly? If things were different I'd probably be a lot more petty about it. But now..." He lifted his shoulder in a light shrug, deceptively nonchalant about the corruption coursing through his veins. "If I let myself get angry at anyone, no matter how deserved, it's like opening a door. And every time I do, I lose a little bit more of myself to what's waiting on the other side. So I am learning to forgive a lot more people than I would have a season ago." And there was far too much to do to hasten that process any further than it was already going.
He listened curiously to the descriptions of the children, Launceleyn pups he'd somehow missed in all the emergencies that seemed to pile up one after another in the Hollowed Grounds. Then again, he was not particularly good with children, and was more than happy to keep them at a distance. The wanted lists, though... "I think they're technically gone," he reassured Loren with a shaky wave. "Edy cleared mine herself when she... ah... called me to the Manor." And if Loren hadn't heard about that debacle, Jigano wasn't going to be the one to enlighten him. "But there is concern about what Zariah will do when she returns. She might have pissed a lot of people off, but no one denies that she's a powerful mage... and even if she doesn't make it back, it'll take time for the distrust she sowed to subside." One didn't run roughshod over a country - however small and humble their little barrier-bounded land was - for a full season without a few lasting consequences among the populace.
The bard nodded; he could send a note to the Launceleyn Manor after he talked to Remi and got his answer. The praise caught him off-guard though, and he blinked as something warm blossomed in his chest. It was not the first time he had received thanks, but such things were rare - perhaps because it had simply become expected of him. If there was meddling to be done, the fox was usually there, for good or ill. He could only hope that this time around it would be for good. "Thank you," he said, voice quiet as he inclined his head to the scholar. "That is... very kind of you. It means a great deal to hear it." With Loren's contributions at the meeting, Jigano suspected that the other man would quickly be receiving such words as well.
”No need to apologize.” It had been a simple miscommunication, nothing more. Then, however, Loren frowned as the import of Jigano’s words sank in. ”Wait, we don’t know if we know all the cases of blight?” Although the summoner knew the wording of that was incredibly vague, he hoped the bard would understand. It seemed that it should’ve been one of the first things they did. However, the Launceleyn agreed with the white-haired man’s assessment that posting something might have been a bad idea. ”I really don’t know. We should probably ask those in charge what they think is best.” The summoner, for one, was glad to have a decision taken off his long list.
They needed to test blood as a means of transmission—although how that would work when other fluids wouldn’t Loren didn’t know, but again, he was not a full healer—and obviously that would be best to do with animals. ”Well, we can just summon them.” Then Loren remembered that, strange as it might seem, no one in the Hollowed Grounds knew much about summoning, or at least seemed used to factoring them into their plans. ”Sorry. I meant I can summon non magical animals too. They won’t last forever, but hopefully long enough to see what happens when we expose them to the blight. They’re not real, so they don’t feel pain, but they’re identical to real animals.” If that didn’t work, well, then they could discuss using real animals, though the Launceleyn was loathe to pursue that route. He liked animals, at least more than he liked most people.
That sounded horrible, what Jigano was describing. But it also sounded really familiar. Loren frowned, and looked away, wondering whether he should say anything. However, he felt important that he had to say something in that moment.. ”I know this isn’t the same, and I can’t imagine how difficult that much be for you. But...there’s a darkness in me, too, one my family put there then did its best to fan the flames of. And every time I succumb to it, it grows. So I have to work on forgiveness as well. And every time I worry about my actions, I force myself to stop, and think about the worst of my relative's atrocities, and what they would do. Then I do the opposite of that.” It wasn’t the same at all, and Loren knew he shoudln’t have said anything at all. However, he was still coming to grips with who and what he was after being so unexpected free of all his tethers and bindings.
Maybe he wasn’t all that free after all, given Zariah could come back at any moment. ”Well, if you’d feel more comfortable with an official pardon, I’m sure that could be arranged.” Although Loren didn’t know exactly what ‘being called to the Manor’ by Edy meant, he really didn’t think he wanted to. It was probably sexual in nature, and the image of Jigano and Loren’s cousin doing the nasty required Loren to think nice thoughts for a while. ”If or when she comes back seeking power or revenge, she’ll have to go through me first. I won’t let her hurt anyone else while I still have breath in my body.” Of course, it was Zariah, so she probably could go through the summoner like a hot knife through butter. But even buying a few moments might make a difference. When it came to the distrust she’d created, however, there were no easy solutions. ”All I can do about the repercussions of her actions is to help the new leaders make sure this place is running smoothly and try to change the associations people have with my name. And I’m working on it in every way I can think of.” That would take time, time he wasn’t sure he’d have. But he had some ideas about it already. He just hoped they weren’t bad ones.
Loren waved away the bard’s thanks as nothing. ”You’re welcome. And it really is the least I could do.” The problem was, the summoner still didn’t know what the most was. Slowly, though, he was getting the information he needed to answer that crucial question.
The bard could only shrug at the question. ”If someone is keeping a list, I don’t know of it. Sometimes we have a tendency to all pull in different directions and no one is really used to having a king – and queen,” he added grudgingly, ”to be a central repository. But at the very least I can start one, and hopefully add to it as we go.” Shaky fingers dipped into the wide sleeve of his other arm, feeling for one of the small pockets sewn there and withdrawing a pencil stub. Flipping the paper Loren had given him over he wrote Ronin’s name and then his own. After a short pause he added ‘Melita’ and ‘Kiada’ to it with question marks. After a longer pause he added ‘Phoebe’ with three question marks, remembering her outburst at the meeting. Not that a temper tantrum was unusual for the midwife, but yelling at Remi in public was. ”Maybe… if we post a list of symptoms to the notice board and ask anyone who has them to come of the Infirmary? Don’t call it the ‘blight’ but… try to reach out to individuals who come to ask about it? I’ll see if I can run it by Ronin…” Another thing to add to the list that just kept growing longer and longer.
While the days remaining to them grew shorter and shorter.
Jigano blinked at the mention of using summoned animals, a bark of startled laughter escaping at the very obvious solution he had missed. ”Yes, yes of course that would work! Rory can summon animals too. It’s how they tested the antidote to the Spire Demon’s poison, I believe, but he does it so rarely I didn’t even think… well. Thank you, let’s add that back to the list of things to test, then.” The bard wasn’t about to cut himself to demonstrate why he thought blood seemed more likely than other routes, but he had hurt himself recently and seen the black streaks among the red that made him fastidious about not getting it on anyone else.
When Loren looked away Jigano first thought that the other man was avoiding the monster that the bard was admitting to becoming. He didn’t expect the sudden outreach – a mirror of what he had tried to offer in the woods, in some ways, a point of connection that the Launceleyn seemed trying to build between them. He felt himself bristling at the false equivalence, the gall of the man, acting as though a rough upbringing was in any way the same as having one’s sanity and soul devoured, piece by piece, by an alien darkness that stole the steadiness of mind and heart both. Fists clenched, jaw clenched, he breathed through his nose and reminded himself that Loren meant well. Just like he had, in the Woods. Their situations were reversed now and he wouldn’t lose control. Not after what he had just told the other man.
But oh, it was tempting. So sweetly tempting to just give in for one sharp, cutting line…
Afraid of what he would say if he opened his mouth he just nodded tightly.
Edrei had pardoned him in her official capacity as Queen, but he was too focused on fighting back the surge of temper to repeat himself. He at least managed an easier smile at the declaration of protection, appreciating the thought even if he had the same misgivings that Loren did about how long the scholar would last against the Tyrant if it came down to violence. ”I’ll wish you luck with it,” he said instead of the crueler words that still lingered at the back of his tongue. ”And given time you should be able to repair the damage.” Time, of course, being the resource in shortest supply for some among them.
Jigano started his list, and Loren nodded at the names on it. ”I’ll send you a note if I discover anyone else with it.” Over the next few days, the bard would indeed receive such notes, one confirming that Phoebe was blighted, one with the name Abasi and a question mark next to it, and one with the name Lily and two question marks (she’d looked unwell when the Launceleyn saw her, but that could have been any number of reasons). For now, though, it appeared to be correct to the summoner. ”I think it’s a good idea. More information is usually better in my books. But I’ll defer to what the leaders want. I’ll let you post that, since you are far more familiar with the symptoms than I.” If Ronin and Wessex did indeed approve of the action, that is.
The suggestion that they use summoned animals was well taken, and Loren nodded in response to the white-haired man’s enthusiasm. Then, however, when the other man nodded in a much less friendly manner, the Launceleyn hesitated, any hint of good cheer gone. Apparently it would’ve been better for him to say nothing at all, but there was no way to take the words back. Still, when Jigano finally spoke, it was polite enough, even if the summoner wasn’t sure if luck would be enough in this case. ”I hope so. And I won’t stop trying, no matter what happens.” None of them would, it seemed. If the blight claimed its victims, it wouldn’t be because they had failed to give their best efforts. Loren just had to have faith that it would be enough.
He wasn’t very good at that.
Glancing at the book the bard had given him earlier and then the one the Launceleyn himself had selected, Loren tucked it under one arm. ”I should probably go get to reading this then. And look into those plants. And the doors. And...you know, all of it. Thank you, though, for all your help, and if you need me for any reason I’ll be there.” There didn’t seem to be much left to discuss, and they both had a lot to do. First, though, he should clean up the mess he made here; he started picking up volumes and restacking the shelves. Even if he wasn’t sure if he was still a librarian here, he could still help out. Besides, the simple and familiar task helped steady his nerves. Then, unless Jigano had other business for the summoner, Loren would depart, although not before saying goodbye to the bard.
The list went back and forth between the two men as the days passed so that each had a copy as Jigano’s once-neat handwriting grew shakier. Jigano’s intentions to meet with Ronin would be dashed, but there was still some hope that his meeting with the Queen and Remi would offer results for creating a list of the afflicted that they could keep an eye on – and hopefully reach faster with any cure that was found.
Loren’s avowal that he could not stop earned a tight, wry smile. ‘No matter what’ was a dangerous phrase on Caido, one that all too often tempted the gods or unkind fate to test it to the breaking point. Still, the sentiment was admirable and Jigano wished the other man the best of luck with it.
”My thanks as well. I wish we could have met under better circumstances… but I’m glad things have turned out as well as they have. Stop by the Hall if you need me. If I’m in the Settlement, I’ll probably be there.” He managed a lopsided smile, retrieving the books he had set down earlier and glancing approvingly at Loren’s reshelving. Perhaps, if things worked out he could ask him…
Well. As the summoner had said, there was a great deal to do and not enough time to do it. First they had to overcome the current crisis and then they would see what they would see. He went back to his original task of gathering the Traditions of Long Night books and placing them together on a shelf at the front of the Atheneum, easy to find for any other Outlander scholars who needed a lesson or refresher on what was to come. He waved a courteous goodbye to Loren as he left, each set to their own tasks.
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