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[dukes_daughter]

Ganymede's hair is getting long again. It reaches nearly to her shoulders now, and curls in to frame her face, emphasizing the softness of her jaw, the roundness of her cheeks. As Ganymede, it is always a bit of a mess, curls and cowlicks everywhere. Rosalind has brushed it out now, though, smooth and soft, like it was when she was was a princess,

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[youngandhealthy]

And one does. "Good sir, thou'lt shame me with thy fairness, one day."

[youngandhealthy]

She nods. "We shall have our picnic, when spring comes, though we had it not in the fall. Us three, and Valentine, and perhaps Tom if we can convince him."

[dukes_daughter]

"More reason yet to wish for spring," she says with a grin.

[youngandhealthy]

She nods. "Aye." And a little quieter: "And to wish the Squire in better spirits."

[dukes_daughter]

"Thou'rt good to think so of him."

[youngandhealthy]

She shakes her head. "He is a good friend, the Squire, and I've done him precious little good. He still grieves so over Mr Carstone." She then abruptly remembers that Ganymede perhaps did not know Richard and Tom were once involved. Oops.

[dukes_daughter]

Nnnnope. She looks interested. "Ay? Wherefore?"

[youngandhealthy]

Well...too late now, really. "I pray thee, make it not a subject of idle gossip, if I do tell thee, for Tom's sake."

[dukes_daughter]

"O, nay! I talk to many, but speak matter to few."

[youngandhealthy]

"Well... Mr Carstone and Tom were more than friends, for a time. But when Miss Clare arrived, Mr Carstone dropped him flat, more or less. Broke the Squire's heart clean in two."

[dukes_daughter]

"What! Richard so did? But he seems a goodly man."

[youngandhealthy]

"Aye," grudgingly, "he does, perhaps, try. But he did poorly by the Squire, and that's the fair truth of it. If he'd not loved him enough for staying, he should have left be in the first place."

[dukes_daughter]

"Did, perhaps, this maid bewitch him?" Rosalind suggests, hesitant to think ill of a friend. "What manner of maid is she?"

[youngandhealthy]

"Miss Clare? Nay, she's a sweet enough girl, all cream and sunshine. They knew one another back in London, and she thinks the sun does rise and set on the good Mr Carstone's shoulders."

[dukes_daughter]

Rosalind nods, frowning. "Naught may be said than that he did Tom ill, 'tis true."

[youngandhealthy]

She looks away. "Curio does think that if Tom did find someone new, might ease him some, but damn me if I can think of someone for him that'd do."