"Are...are you ganging up on me?" Shen Yuan asked, too shocked to be offended. It didn't last. "Are you seriously ganging up on me with my own sword?"

Oh? Xiu Ya snapped back, offended in her own right. Is this not the man who just said this venerable one would be better off finding another partner? How bold he must be, to care about this one's opinion now!

Shen Yuan's face turns bright red when Palamedes relays that particular message.

"Well...fine!" he finally snaps. "That's just fine!" He leans back against the edge of the table, somehow giving the impression of having flounced despite being dressed down to a single layer. "Go on then, your highness," he says ungraciously. "Impart your wisdom to this lowly one."

Xiu Ya is far too refined to groan, but she would very much like to. Must you be so childish? she pondered -- and then, in a diffident tone that sounded completely unlike anything she'd said so far, Is it so incredible that this venerable one might wish to help you?

It was clear that Shen Yuan had no idea what to say to this. "Well...yeah," he finally answered. "I know I'm not your person. You didn't choose me."

Not in the traditional way, Xiu Ya acknowledged. But our bond is true nonetheless. Else how would this blade have followed you to this world?